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 < 0.05), and there were significantly fewer interruptions to surgery than in the facemask group (p< 0.001). Patient safety, operating and anaesthetic conditions were all considered superior in the laryngeal airway group.