ABSTRACT
Securing a safe airway is essential for oxygenation and ventilation in management of critical patients in all specialities and during conduction of anaesthesia. Endotracheal tubes has been the mainstay for airway control. Hence need for various devices to secure airway was realized, leading to development of many supraglottic devices. Methods: This prospective, randomized study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital. It included 90 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I-II patients, randomly allocated into 3 groups, undergoing elective surgical procedures under general anaesthesia. It was designed to compare cETT, cLMA and i-gel LMA. Primary outcome measure was number of insertion attempts. We also compared ease of insertion, insertion time, haemodynamic changes and incidences of airway trauma and complications. For statistical comparison pearson's chi-square test for nominal data, ANOVA test for comparison between multiple variables within the study and control groups and unpaired t-test to compare numerical variables were used. Results: The First attempt insertion success and ease of insertion for the three devices were comparable, with i-gel scoring the highest among all. Mean time of insertion was lowest for i-gel (16.83s±3.49s) followed by cLMA (25.23±5.46s) and cuffed ETT (27.6±4.3s), which was statistically significant. The basal vitals with respect to heart rate, systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure were comparable in all the three groups. Conclusion: It may be concluded that use of i-gel airway offers more favourable hemodynamic stability as compared to endotracheal tube and cLMA and is associated with less postoperative complication.