Author(s)

Shahram Nafisi, Mehdi Rajabi, Mohammad Afshar, Morteza Rashidian, Mitra Mohammadzadeh

Clinical Innovation Ins Trials, Costa Mesa?, CA?, USA.
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
Department of Anesthesiology, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Background: Comparison of the tracheal tube depth over the same body height of men and women based upon intubation depth markings. Methods: Kashan University of Medical Sciences ethics committee approved the study and written informed consent was taken for each patient. Patients undergoing surgery requiring general anesthesia with oro-tracheal intubation were included in a prospective observational study. After induction of general anesthesia, the endotracheal tube was secured at the point at which the cuff was just below the vocal cord on laryngoscopy. Results: In a statistical study of 682 intubated patients which consisted of 499 women and 183 men, 28 cases of laryngoscopic view grade III and IV were excluded from the study. The measurement markings on the ETT at the level of right corner of the mouth were 20.65 ± 0.13 and 18.52 ± 0.08 for men and women respectively (CI 95%). Patient’s height has a meaningful correlation with the measurement of the fixation point of the ETT. Pearson correlation coefficient between the securing point of the tube and height was 0.2 and 0.357 for men and women respectively. In most cases of men and women of the same height, Mann-Whitney U test rejected the hypothesis that the tube can be fixed in the particular point. Conclusions: In general, men are taller than women. Comparing the fixation depth of the tube, even when man and woman have the same body height, the endotracheal tube might be placed in a deeper level for men rather than women.

Intubation, Endotracheal Tube, General Anesthesia, Height, Cuffed

Nafisi, S. , Rajabi, M. , Afshar, M. , Rashidian, M. and Mohammadzadeh, M. (2014) A Comparison of the Best Place to Fix Endotracheal Tubes for Men and Women When Men and Women Are in the Same Height. Open Journal of Anesthesiology, 4, 153-158. doi: 10.4236/ojanes.2014.47021.