The laryngeal mask airway in paediatric anaesthesia

Forty-eight children, aged between 2 and 10 years, admitted as day cases for otological surgery were allocated at random into two groups. The first group was anaesthetised using a standard facemask, and the second with a laryngeal mask airway. The laryngeal airway produced a satisfactory airway in all children, and was inserted on the first attempt in 67% of patients. Hypoxia was significantly less frequent in the laryngeal airway group (p less than 0.05), and there were significantly fewer interruptions to surgery than in the facemask group (p less than 0.001). Patient safety, operating and anaesthetic conditions were all considered superior in the laryngeal airway group.