[Prehospital airway management of laryngeal tubes. Should the laryngeal tube S with gastric drain tube be preferred in emergency medicine?]

Abstract

Laryngeal tubes (LT) are increasingly being used for emergency airway management. This article reports on two patients in whom out-of-hospital intubation with a single-lumen LT was associated with massive pulmonary aspiration in one patient and gastric overinflation in the other. In both cases peak inspiratory pressures exceeded the LT leak pressure of approximately 35 mbar. This resulted in gastric inflation and decreased pulmonary compliance and increased inspiratory pressure further, thereby creating a vicious circle. It is therefore recommended that laryngeal tube suction (LTS) should be used in all cases of emergency airway management and a gastric drain tube be inserted through the dedicated second lumen. Apart from gastric overinflation, incorrect LT/LTS placement must be detected and immediately corrected, e.g. in cases of difficult or impossible gastric tube placement, permanent drainage of air from the gastric tube, decreasing minute ventilation or an ascending capnography curve.