Am. Whitford et al., INTRAOCULAR-PRESSURE CHANGES FOLLOWING LARYNGEAL MASK AIRWAY INSERTION - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY, Anaesthesia, 52(8), 1997, pp. 794-796
We compared the effects of the Brain laryngeal mask airway with a trac
heal tube on intra-ocular pressure. Propofol was used as induction age
nt and atracurium as relaxant. Twenty-six patients with normal intra-o
cular pressure undergoing cataract surgery were randomly allocated to
two groups. Group A (n = 13) had a laryngeal mask airway inserted and
Group B (n = 13) had a tracheal tube inserted. Intra-ocular pressure w
as measured just before insertion of the airway, 20 s after insertion
and at 2 min. In the laryngeal mask airway group there were no signifi
cant changes in mean intra-ocular pressure. In the tracheal tube group
there was a significant rise in mean intra-ocular pressure at 20 s (p
= 0.0056) which returned to pre-insertion levels at 2 min. We conclud
e that the laryngeal mask airway continues to have advantages over the
tracheal tube for ophthalmic surgery despite the use of propofol and
atracurium as anaesthetic agents.