Abstract

Airway management is of prime importance to an Anaesthesiologist. Unanticipated difficult laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation remains a primary concern of anaesthesiologist. The reported incidence of a difficult laryngoscopy or endotracheal intubation varies from 1.5% to 13% in patients undergoing surgery. Failure to intubate is detected in 0.05 - 0.35% of the patients. Thus Insertion of a supraglottic device in these situations is a recognized alternative and may be a life-saving procedure preoperative. Sixty patients between 18-60 years of age and either sex were included in our study. We assessed I-gel and Proseal LMA in adults for airway sealing pressure, ease of insertion, insertion attempts, blood staining of the device, tongue, lip and dental trauma. All patients were asked to fast overnight. Mean insertion time for the I-gel (14.12 ± 2.24 sec) was significantly lower than that of the PLMA (26.1 ± 3.3 sec) (P = 0.0001). I-gel was easier to insert with a better anatomic fit. Mean airway sealing pressure in the PLMA group (30 ± 4.27 cmH2O) was significantly higher than in the I-gel group (24 ± 4.37cm H2O; P = 0.0001). From our study we conclude that: I-gel scores better than Proseal in insertion time, causes lesser incidence of postoperative sore throat due to its non inflattable cuff and facilitates effective gastric drainage.