The intubating laryngeal mask airway is a new device that facilitates
intubation of the trachea. We assessed its use in 15 awake patients in
whom we anticipated difficulty with tracheal intubation; we would oth
erwise have secured the patients' airways using a fibreoptic bronchosc
ope. AU patients were sedated and had their airways anaesthetised with
local anaesthetic. The tracheas of all 15 patients were successfully
intubated. The mean time from start of sedation to successful intubati
on was 10.8 min. The mean time from completion of sedation and airway
local anaesthesia to tracheal intubation was 2.8 min. Patients remaine
d haemodynamically stable throughout, peripheral oxygen saturation was
maintained and there were no obvious cases of pulmonary aspiration. M
ost patients complained of sore throat and hoarseness. We have demonst
rated through this descriptive study that the intubating laryngeal mas
k airway may, in certain circumstances, be used as an alternative to t
he fibreoptic bronchoscope.