British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2000, Vol. 85, No. 4 504-505
© 2000 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia
Editorial |
Editorial II
Airway devices: where now and where to?
LMA® is the property of Intervent Limited.
Since the advent of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA), anaesthetists have become used to the advantages of ‘hands-free’ anaesthesia. Beforehand it was usual, when anaesthetizing spontaneously breathing patients, to maintain direct patient contact via the facemask used to deliver the anaesthetic gases. Trainees were taught the advantages of direct contact for continuous clinical assessment. By contrast, hands-free anaesthesia offered freedom of movement about the operating theatre, increased independence from assistants, and the opportunity to more readily monitor surgical activity. Over the same period, monitoring has become more sophisticated, but the cynic might suggest that the anaesthetist now needs to be hands-free to attend to monitor alarms. For anything other than minor cases, tracheal intubation was the order of the day
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