DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2017.v05i06.008

Pages: 453-458

Maintenance of airway is an integral part of general anaesthesia. Nowadays supraglottic airway devices are routinely used for short-term elective surgery. I-gel is one of the newer single-use, supraglottic airway for use in anaesthesia with the potential advantage of easy insertion and minimal risk of tissue compression with stability after insertion. The aim is to evaluate the ease of insertion of I-gel, insertion time, quality of ventilation, suitability of the size recommended in relation to patient`s weight, stability of the device, ease of Ryles tube insertion, haemodynamic stability and potential complications. After a complete preanaesthetic checkup of patients scheduled for elective surgery, the patient was taken in the operating room and was monitored by pulse oximetry, end tidal CO2, noninvasive arterial blood pressure and electrocardiogram. Patient was premedicated, preoxygenated and was induced with propofol. After induction I-gel was inserted and proper insertion was assessed by observing the end tidal carbon dioxide square waveform and chest movements. Gastric insufflation was assessed by auscultation over the patient’s epigastric area. Anaesthesia was then maintained on O2 + N2O + Isoflurane. All the patients remained on spontaneous ventilation throughout the surgery. We found that the insertion of the I-gel was easy in 88% cases and in 90% cases it was successful on 1st attempt, mean duration of insertion was 8.02 ± 2.45 sec, size was found to be ‘suitable” (76.0%), Ryle’s tube insertion was “easy” in 100% patients and insertion time was 4.34 ± 0.48 sec. Haemodynamically patients were found to be stable throughout the surgery. In our study we have found that insertion was easy, haemodynamically the patient was stable throughout the surgery, quality of ventilation and oxygenation was also found to be good and there were very few post-operative complications.