REMOVAL OF THE LARYNGEAL MASK AIRWAY IN CHILDREN - ANESTHETIZED COMPARED WITH AWAKE

We studied 60 children, aged 12 months to 8 yr, undergoing plastic sur gery under general anaesthesia supplemented by regional anaesthesia. P atients were allocated randomly to have the laryngeal mask airway remo ved either on awakening or while anaesthetized. Subsequent observation of respiratory factors and oxygen saturation showed a significant dif ference between the groups for coughing (P < 0.001), with a greater in cidence (17 of 33) in the awake group compared with those from whom th e laryngeal mask airway was removed while anaesthetized (two of 27). T here were no differences in the incidences of laryngospasm, desaturati on (< 95%) and excess salivation between the groups. Removed of the la ryngeal mask airway during deep anaesthesia reduced coughing in the im mediate postoperative period.