Laryngeal tube

The laryngeal tube (known as the King LT in the U.S.) is an airway management device designed as an alternative to other airway management techniques such as mask ventilation, laryngeal mask airway, and tracheal intubation. This device can be inserted blindly through the oropharynx into the hypopharynx to create an airway during anaesthesia and cardiopulmonary resuscitation so as to enable mechanical ventilation of the lungs.

In its basic (standard) version, the laryngeal tube is made up of a tube with a larger balloon cuff in the middle (oropharyngeal cuff) and a smaller balloon cuff at the end (oesophageal cuff). The tube is kinked at an angle of 30-45° in the middle; the kink is located in the larger cuff. There are two apertures, located between the two cuffs, through which ventilation takes place. Both cuffs are inflated through a single small lumen line and pilot balloon. The cuffs are high-volume, low-pressure cuffs with inflating volume ranging from 10 ml (size 0) to 90 ml (size 5). A large bore syringe, which is marked with the required volume for each size, is used to inflate the cuffs. A cuff inflator can also be used, in which case the cuffs should be inflated to a pressure of 60 cm H2O. Three black lines on the tube indicate the depth of insertion when aligned with the teeth.

The laryngeal tube was developed in Germany and introduced to the European market by VBM Medizintechnik in the autumn of 1999. Since then the design has been modified several times. Currently four different models are used: the standard tube as single use or re-use models and the modified tube (laryngeal tube-Suction II) as single use or re-use models. The re-usable models can be autoclaved up to 50 times, while the modified laryngeal tube (Suction) incorporates an extra lumen for inserting a gastric tube or suction system. There are six sizes of the laryngeal tube, ranging from newborn (size 0) to large adult (size 5). The connector of the tube is color-coded for each size. The different sizes are calibrated according to weight or height.

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