Laryngeal mask airway intracuff pressure estimation by digital palpation of the pilot balloon: A comparison of reusable and disposable masks
Digital palpation of the pilot balloon provides information about the intracuff pressure of tile laryngeal mask airway. The purpose of this in vitro, study was to evaluate this technique for the reusable and disposable laryngeal mask airway. Ten anaesthetists and 10 recovery-unit nurses estimated intracuff pressures from low/high initial pressures before/after training. In the pretraining phase, the mean (95% CI) pressure was 99 (94-105) cmH2O, but this was significantly lower for the reusable laryngeal mask airway (91 vs. 103 cmH2O) and if the initial pressure was low (81 vs. 112 cmH2O). In the post-training phase, there was a significant overall improvement to 75 (66-85) cmH2O, but target pressures remained more accurate if the initial pressure was low. Subjects in the training group could estimate 95% of pressures for both devices to within ± 10 cmH2O of the target if the initial pressure was low. We conclude that anaesthetists and recovery-unit nurses are capable of accurate estimation of intracuff pressures using the digital palpation technique following a brief period of training.