title: The use of bromothymol blue and sodium thiopentone to confirm tracheal intubation.
abstract: The possibility of using chemical changes to confirm correct tracheal tube placement was investigated with a view to their use in developing countries where more sophisticated methods are unavailable. The effect of bubbling expired gases through a 10% solution of bromothymol blue and a 0.25% solution of thiopentone led to chemical changes producing, in the case of bromothymol blue, a colour change and in that of thiopentone, precipitation, probably due to a change in pH caused by carbon dioxide. We also discovered that the time to precipitation of the thiopentone could be greatly reduced if it was mixed with a precise quantity of lignocaine. These simple end points can reliably confirm the correct placement of a tracheal tube at least as rapidly as the correct use of capnography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dingley
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Vaughan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001979:Bromthymol Blue / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000379:methods*; D008012:Lidocaine; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013874:Thiopental / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008012:Lidocaine; D013874:Thiopental; D001979:Bromthymol Blue