The ILMA Outperforms the CTrach LMA in Morbidly Obese Patients

Intubation with the much less expensive Intubating Laryngeal Mask Airway was faster and equally successful.

In a randomized trial, researchers compared intubation success rates with the intubating laryngeal mask airway (ILMA; JW Emerg Med Jul 26 2005) and the CTrach, an intubating LMA that incorporates a fiber-optic viewer (JW Emerg Med Apr 11 2008), in 80 morbidly obese patients (body-mass index >40 kg/m²) undergoing elective surgery. Operators were anesthesiologists who had each performed >10 successful intubations with each device. For patients in the CTrach group, the glottis was visualized on the device's fiber-optic viewer prior to attempted passage of the endotracheal tube.

More than 90% of patients were women. Baseline characteristics, first-attempt success rates (approximately 75%), and times to LMA insertion (approximately 20 seconds) we…

Reviewing Authors

Cheryl Lynn Horton, MD

Disclosures

Speaker’s bureauAirway Management Education Center

Cheryl Lynn Horton, MD

Disclosures

Speaker’s bureauAirway Management Education Center

Ron M. Walls, MD, FRCPC, FAAEM

Disclosures

Speaker's bureauAirway Management Education Center, LLC

EquityAirway Management Education Center, LLC

Grant / Research supportAgency for Health Care Research and Quality

Editorial boardsManual of Emergency Airway Management; Rosen's Emergency Medicine; UpToDate; Scientific American Medicine

Leadership positions in professional societiesAssociation of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine (President)

Ron M. Walls, MD, FRCPC, FAAEM

Disclosures

Speaker's bureauAirway Management Education Center, LLC

EquityAirway Management Education Center, LLC

Grant / Research supportAgency for Health Care Research and Quality

Editorial boardsManual of Emergency Airway Management; Rosen's Emergency Medicine; UpToDate; Scientific American Medicine

Leadership positions in professional societiesAssociation of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine (President)