microbial biofilms has remained a major complication of tracheal intubation in patients requiring ventilator equipment. the aim of this study was to characterize bacterial and fungal biofilms in endotracheal tubes from intensive care unit (icu) patients in ahwaz, iran. in this cross-sectional descriptive study, patients admitted to icu that required mechanical ventilation for at least 24 hours ...

Although they are extremely effective in maintaining tracheal and subglottic patency, T-tubes themselves can result in airway obstruction from plugging. Many practitioners educate patients on placing a small (5.0) endotracheal tube (ETT) through the tracheal limb of the T-tube if they develop airway obstruction. Unfortunately, this can be a difficult task to complete during acute airway obstruc...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to measure the dimensions of the retromolar space of a patient population. If the dimensions were found to exceed the outside diameters of commonly used tracheal tubes, the results could increase use of the retromolar approach for oral intubation in patients with trismus. METHODS We reviewed 311 dental pantomograms. Retromolar space height was measured...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Tracheal intubation for general anesthesia often leads to traumatization of the airway mucosa resulting in postoperative sore throat, hoarseness and cough. This study was undertaken to determine the effects of betamethasone gel in reducing these complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred patients (ASA I-II) to undergo endotracheal intubation, were randomly divided eq...

We used key words and letter sequences to identify airway-associated patient safety incidents submitted to the UK National Patient Safety Agency from critical care units in England and Wales. We identified 1085 such airway incidents submitted in the two years from October 2005 to September 2007. Three hundred and twelve incidents (28.8%) involved neonates or babies. Of the total 1085 incidents,...

The Drosophila tracheal system arises from clusters of ectodermal cells that invaginate and migrate to originate a network of epithelial tubes. Genetic analyses have identified several genes that are specifically expressed in the tracheal cells and are required for tracheal development. Among them, trachealess (trh) is able to induce ectopic tracheal pits and therefore it has been suggested tha...

Postintubation tracheal stenosis is a complication of endotracheal intubation. The pathological mechanism and risk factors for endotracheal intubation-induced tracheal stenosis remain not fully understood. We aimed to establish an animal model and to investigate risk factors for postintubation tracheal stenosis. Beagles were intubated with 4 sized tubes (internal diameter 6.5 to 8.0 mm) and cuf...

Editor—The large randomized controlled trial of cuffed or non-cuffed tracheal tubes in small children demonstrated that experienced practitioners using exemplary (as opposed to standard) technique had a similar incidence of post-extubation stridor with either tube, and fewer repeat intubations with the cuffed tubes. 1 In the accompanying editorial, 2 it is proposed that paediatric anaesthetists...

CONTEXT High compliance endotracheal tubes cuffs are used to prevent gas leak and also pulmonary aspiration in mechanically ventilated patients. However, the use of the usual cuff inflation volumes may cause tracheal damage. OBJECTIVE We tested the hypothesis that endotracheal tube cuff pressures are routinely high (above 40 cmH2O) in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) or Intensive Care Uni...