Comparative Evaluation of Efficacy of Two Anatomically Preformed Supraglottic Airway Devices for Ventilation in Adult Patients Undergoing Elective Surgery Under General Anaesthesia

The supraglottic airway devices (SADs) have been widely used as an alternative to tracheal intubation during general anaesthesia or as an immediate life-saving measure in patients with difficult or failed airway. Since the introduction of the Classic Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA)by Dr. Archie brain, UK, several innovative supraglottic airway devices have been developed. The second-generation SADs such as Laryngeal Mask Airway Proseal, Laryngeal Mask Airway Supreme, LMA Protector and BlockBuster LMA integrate gastric drainage tubes and improved airway seal, enhancing patient safety. LMA Protector and BlockBuster LMA can be used as conduit for blind endotracheal intubation as they may help to tackle the “cannot ventilate cannot intubate " situation and can be lifesaving in difficult airway situations. SADs with intubation conduit are also recommended by All India Difficult Airway Association guidelines 2016 for difficult airway situations. Laryngeal Mask Airway Protector (LMA-Protector) is a new second generation supraglottic device made with medical-grade silicone. The LMA Protector provides access to, and functional separation of, the ventilation and digestive tracts, with the presence of two drainage channels, which emerge proximally as separate ports and enter a chamber, located behind the cuff bowl. BlockBuster LMA. It is an anatomically curved device made up of silicone. It provides access to and functional separation of the ventilation and digestive tracts. We hypothesize that the LMA Protector will have a better clinical efficacy for ventilation as compared to BlockBuster LMA in terms of higher oropharyngeal leak pressure in adult patients undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia with controlled ventilation. However, there is paucity of studies comparing the above two devices. Therefore we designed this study to evaluate and compare the LMA Protector with BlockBuster LMA for efficacy of ventilation in adult patients undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia with controlled ventilation with the primary objective of comparison of oropharyngeal leak (seal) pressure between the two devices