title: The margin of safety associated with the use of cuffed paediatric tracheal tubes.
abstract: There is increasing interest in the use of cuffed paediatric tracheal tubes, these tubes have a number of advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is the decreased margin of safety associated with the use of cuffed tracheal tubes. When using an uncuffed tube, the margin of safety is approximately the length of the trachea, however, for a cuffed tube, this margin is reduced and is the length of the trachea minus the distance between the proximal edge of the cuff and the and the tip of the tube. We have found that, compared with traditional uncuffed tubes, cuffed tubes may be associated with a reduced margin of safety of approximately 50% or more.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong. hoamh@hotmail.com
authors.forename: A M-H
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: C S T
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Aun
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Karmakar
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D014132:Trachea / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000293:injuries