A comparison of endotracheal intubation and use of the laryngeal mask airway for ambulatory oral surgery patients.

PURPOSE This study compared current experience with the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) to previous experience with endotracheal intubation for ambulatory patients receiving general anesthesia. PATIENTS AND METHODS A retrospective comparison of 157 patients (50 endotracheal intubation [ET] and 107 LMA cases) was conducted. The subjects were American Association of Anesthesiologist (ASA) Class I and II patients who underwent outpatient general anesthesia for dentoalveolar surgery. Procedure time, recovery time, and cost of techniques were compared. RESULTS The patients undergoing a variety of outpatient dentoalveolar surgical procedures under general anesthesia in the LMA group had a shorter procedure time than the ET group (40 vs 44 minutes) and had a significantly shorter recovery time (54 vs 67 minutes). In addition, compared with the cost of delivering care with ET, the LMA provided slightly lower cost per case ($20 to $30 per case compared with $35 to $80 per case), depending on the anesthetic technique used. Comparing the 2 techniques for removal of 4 impacted third molars (25 patients ET and 68 patients LMA) revealed a similar procedure time of 39 minutes for both groups, but a shorter recovery time for the LMA group (54 vs 68 minutes). CONCLUSIONS Use of the LMA has advantages over endotracheal intubation for outpatients receiving general anesthesia for dentoalveolar surgery.