POSTOPERATIVE LARYNGEAL COMPETENCE - THE LARYNGEAL MASK AIRWAY AND TRACHEAL TUBE COMPARED

We investigated the incidence of postoperative laryngeal incompetence in 40 patients undergoing lower limb arthroplasty. Patients were rando mly allocated to one of two groups using a standardised general anaest hetic/muscle relaxant technique; in group A the patients' lungs were v entilated via a laryngeal mask airway and in group B via a tracheal tu be. Following recovery from general anaesthesia, at a time when patien ts were considered safe for discharge back to the general ward, they w ere asked to swallow 20 ml of barium, and an immediate portable chest X lay was taken. The X rays were examined for evidence of tracheopulmo nary aspiration. Contrary to previous studies the incidence of aspirat ion was low, occurring in only one patient. This aspiration was, howev er, clinically silent. The exact mechanism of this apparent laryngeal incompetence, which occurred in a patient from the tracheal tube group , is unclear. Due to the relatively small numbers of patients studied no conclusions can be drawn about the relative benefits of the use of the laryngeal mask airway with regard to postoperative laryngeal compe tence.