Effectiveness in performance for Air-Q laryngeal mask

Abstract

Introduction: Currently, one of the most fundamental challenges of anesthesiology is to maintain an adequate gas exchange in patients under any circumstances, which requires constant and strict performance over the airway.
Objective: To evaluate the characteristics of the Air-Q laryngeal mask for accessing the airway in patients with balanced general anesthesia in breast surgical procedures.
Methods: A randomized, comparative study was carried out at Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical-Surgical Hospital, in the period from December 2014 to December 2016.
Results: 150 patients were studied, divided into two groups of 75 patients each. The average age was represented more frequently in the group 50-59 years. The average weight for the classic laryngeal mask was 66.1 kg and the Air-Q, 64.3 kg. The ASA II-III classification was more representative in both groups. Both masks were placed on the first attempt at 95.1% and 85.3%, respectively. The insertion time was 342.7 sec in the laryngeal mask and 29.1 sec in the Air-Q. There were no significant changes in the hemodynamic or respiratory variables in both groups.
Conclusions: We corroborated the effectiveness of the Air-Q laryngeal mask, the time of insertion of the Air-Q, as well as the number of attempts, with little difference between groups. The respiratory and hemodynamic changes secondary to the insertion of the masks were minimal. The complications in the immediate postoperative period were few and of little seriousness, with less incidence in the Air-Q group, where dysphonia predominated. The surgical time was four minutes faster in the Air-Q group than with the classic laryngeal mask.