title: Placement of left-sided double-lumen endobronchial tubes: comparison of clinical and fibreoptic-guided placement.
abstract: We have compared a new intubation manoeuvre using a fibreoptic bronchoscope with conventional blind placement of a double-lumen tube. Thirty adult patients who presented for thoracoscopy requiring one-lung ventilation underwent endobronchial intubation with a double-lumen tube inserted either in the conventional blind way or using a fibreoptic bronchoscope. There were four misplacements of the double-lumen tube using the conventional method but none using the bronchoscope. In addition, the bronchoscope allowed more rapid intubation (mean 106 vs 347 s). The results suggest that the fibreoptic-guided method of inserting the double-lumen tube was a satisfactory alternative to the conventional one.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, National University Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Koh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D020680:Bronchoscopes; D005260:Female; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged