An investigation into the quantity of secretions removed by inflated and deflated laryngeal mask airways

It has been suggested that removal of a laryngeal mask airway with the cuff inflated may remove more secretions than with the cuff deflated. We performed a study to determine whether this suggestion is correct. Patients were randomly allocated to removal of the laryngeal mask airway with the cuff deflated (n = 75) or inflated (n = 74). The laryngeal mask airways were weighed before insertion and after removal, the difference in these two weights being taken to be the mass of secretions adherent to the airways on removal. The mean (SD) increase in laryngeal mask airway weight was 2.45 (1.47) g with the cuff deflated and 3.03 (1.76) g with the cuff inflated (p = 0.03). We conclude that removal of the laryngeal mask airway with the cuff inflated removes approximately 0.5 g more secretions than with the cuff deflated.