A comparison of the intubating and standard laryngeal mask airways for airway management by inexperienced personnel

Twenty-four inexperienced participants were timed inserting the intubating laryngeal mask airway and the laryngeal mask airway in 75 anaesthetised sub jects. Adequacy of ventilation was assessed on a three-point scale. The pre ssure at which a leak first developed around the device's cuff was also mea sured. There was no significant difference in insertion time or the likelih ood of achieving adequate ventilation between devices. However, the intubat ing laryngeal mask airway was better at providing adequate ventilation with out audible leak (58/75 (77%) vs. 42/75 (56%); p = 0.009). The median (rang e [IQR]) pressure at which an audible leak developed was higher for the int ubating laryngeal mask airway, 34.5 (14-40 [29-40]) cmH(2)O, than for the l aryngeal mask airway, 27.5 (14-40 [22-33]) cmH(2)O (p<0.001). The intubatin g laryngeal mask airway is worthy of further consideration as a tool for em ergency airway management for inexperienced personnel.