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How long is too long? And any other pearls you care to share.
I would, and have done it. The alternative would have been a difficult intubation for a cysto. It's all a matter of risks vs benefits.2 hours for me. Also wouldn’t do it for a morbidly obese patient no matter how long the case is.
I am absolutely lazy (on my own scale; and absolutely hardworking when I sometimes look around, hehe). A lot of truly good doctors are lazy, because one needs that motivation to figure out what works in medicine and what doesn't, what's true and what's legend from all the "evidence-based" BS. That's also why one can learn so much from watching other anesthesiologists; we have an eye towards optimization and simplification.Agree with above, risks vs benefits, never clear cut and dry. I always had an attending tell me in residency "LMAs are for lazy anesthesiologists". You have to ask yourself what is the benefit to putting in an LMA vs a tube. When it boils down to it, there isn't many benefits. The decreased sore throat never convinced me, maybe less hoarseness. I would add I don't put LMAs in patients when the positioning is high lithotomy regardless of BMI.
Fixed that for ya!Lazy is good. Usually the best thing for the patient is not doing anything.
Residual atelectasis from induction and derecruitment?lol... so what is the downside of “long” lma times in a spontaneously breathing patient with a little pressure support?
Residual atelectasis from induction and derecruitment?
and an ETT with ppv and paralysis will improve on that?
I would encourage younger anesthesiologists to be at least somewhat selective with LMA use. It will save them some stress at some point in their career.
Laws of the House of GodLazy is good. Sometimes the best thing for the patient is not doing anything.
my biggest determinant of lma vs ett is: the crna in the roomI would encourage younger anesthesiologists to be at least somewhat selective with LMA use. It will save them some stress at some point in their career.
it helps that i have a lot of frequent fliers, but i use lmas in fatties all the time, like 300+ers in lithotomy. 90% of LMA issues i have seen in all pt populations is when the pt gets light.I would, and have done it. The alternative would have been a difficult intubation for a cysto. It's all a matter of risks vs benefits.
How many obese (or diabetic) NPO patients have you seen with residual solid food (not just particles) on an EGD? I have seen just one, and that applies to many hundreds of patients.
At least you can properly recruit one or two errant alveoli if there's an ett in place.
I put one in for a debridement on a homeless guy who said he was npo and he started blowing chunks and aspirated. Seriously regretted that one.
As per the original question, I do a fair amount of triple atrhodesis/ total ankle replacements/ ankle poly exchanges and I ALWAYS use an LMA unless it doesn't fit well.
These cases can be 3-4+ depending on complexity and I have never had an issue. I like SV because it gives me a clue as to how well my blocks are working and tourniquet pain.
I honestly think the 2 hour rule is academic dogma as well as using paralysis with lma's.
The i-gel LMA takes a while to warm up and mold to the patient's pharynx, so not having leaks, right after placement, can be a sign of a big-time future sore throat.Same. I paralyze with lmas sometimes, no issues. Have used mechanical ventilation with lmas, no issues. I have had the igel not sit right a few times and had to tube the patient but only 3 or so times. I have noticed that if I stick it in too early, the tv volumes suck until the patient is deep enough.
Mac 1.3? Are you a CRNA? Most of my patients are around 0.6.
600mg. Started with 400 and when he wasn't deep enough have another 200. Big college football player. Never went apneic. Still had some fight in him putting the LMA in.What’s the most you had to give a patient for Lma induction ? Had a case today 60 yo 100 kg male patient no pmh had to give 2 versed 100lido and 400 of propofol. The propofol was in divided doses. In hindsight would of given fentanyl or gas. Wondering if patient was on my or heavy drinker. Vitals barely budged and he still reacted a little bit when I placed.
600mg. Started with 400 and when he wasn't deep enough have another 200. Big college football player. Never went apneic. Still had some fight in him putting the LMA in.
am i being overly cautious that i'm still intubating mostly everyone now? covid is pretty bad in my neck of the woods... even with negative testing of everyone...i don't know if i trust them.
The other day,So if a patient breaths spontaneously, with a glorified oral airway in their mouth, for 5 hours, it's too long? Darn, what's your cutoff for propofol MAC cases (e.g. podiatry)? How about life and spontaneous ventilation, in general? 😛
On the serious side, as long as I have a channel to suction the stomach, and as long as the cuff is adjustable (lower risk of tissue injury and better individual fit), I have done 4-5 hour cases, even with muscle-relaxation and controlled ventilation. Obviously, it also depends on the patient.
Thanks for such explanation, I have questions :Asked myself the same question when I started. Usually 3 hours or 4 hours max. Major issues as far as I know are lingual nerve palsy, increased aspiration risk for a prolonged case, and increased pressure support requirements over time. My BMI cutoff is usually around 40 and in those cases <2 hours
I personally would have never put an LMA in that one, for 3 reasons:The other day,
I had 25 years old Emergency Case, but 6 hours NPO with huge flap scalp wound requires suturing, and I put i-Gel and spontaneous NOT controlled ventilation and the operation lasts an hour and a half.
I put the bed - reversed trendelenburg and I covered the maintenance with Isoflurane, and multimodal analgesia like Paracetamol + remifentanil boluses (20 mcg each and slowly) and even drip it the dose !
I wasn't happy with i-Gel, the problem was behind i-Gel him not tube him, he was very heavy smoker ! !
I am still questioning this case, and everything went well, and he woke up like a charm ! !
Did I do the right thing?
What do you think ?
Many Thanks Dr FFP, I got your pearlsI personally would have never put an LMA in that one, for 3 reasons:
1. One cannot count on NPO when the patient gets opiates for pain (they slow down gastric evacuation, also the trauma itself does). Also, I don't trust emergency patients for NPO purposes (people lie, especially youngsters, sometimes even when told that lying can kill them).
2. It's a scalp wound. In the US, that means that the OR table is turned away from me. Unless my LMA fits perfectly, I tend to just insert a tube; it's harder to dislodge.
3. Liability in case of aspiration, in the US.
Truth be told, if concerned about airway/lungs/intubation, I would have negotiated with the surgeon to use plenty of local anesthetic with some lighter sedation (e.g. low-dose propofol infusion) that maintained his airway reflexes but kept him snoring. Being a nervous 25 year-old, I am sure he's not that cooperative or easy to sedate, especially for solo residents, so don't feel bad if it didn't cross your mind. This is also very surgeon-dependent; some are just too lazy to use enough local (it's not rocket science for suturing, it's a field block).
Next time you have a smoker, don't worry about it, just be prepared for a ton of secretions, mucus plugging and coughing. Sometimes stuff like glycopyrrolate helps dry up the secretions (or at least the saliva).
Also, remember that remifentanil not only goes away when the infusion is stopped, but it's also one of the medications that can cause a paradoxical hyperalgesia.
Again, there are many ways to do the same thing in anesthesia. It's all a matter of risks vs benefits. One could even do it just with rare boluses of low-dose ketamine for pain AND sedation (not the best idea in a heavy smoker), for example; or just with local anesthetic (I know a person who had an open appendectomy like that, in a developing country). It depends on the patient, the surgeon and YOU.
It sounds like you have already taught yourself the lesson here: when in doubt, just tube them.
Everybody makes mistakes. Some of us actually learn from them; it's called "experience". It's a good sign that you cared enough to have an uneasy feeling during the case.Many Thanks Dr FFP, I got your pearls
I wasn't happy of this i-Gel and although, the patient was in the ER for many hours NPO and got a detailed history, and YES I should put an ETT, but you know the Neurosurgeon said "It won't take less than 30 minutes", and I believed him, so I thought of less complicated i-Gel vs ETT, and the remifent I used (I only had 100 mcg handy)!
I used Ketamine and Propofol, and let the patient goes deep, and a bolus of remifent and then inserted a fitted i-gel and it worked Okay, but the RR was an issue like mid 20s to upper 20s !
Then the Op went well, and when I woke up the patient, he was talking with ease and didn't recall too, and I visited him later, he was fine too !
So, this thread is important, I learned from you about using LMA for longer operation time, as in Books it said less than an hour, but you and others went further and not fearing the Aspiration risk, and for me I concerned about the work of breathing if the patient left on spontaneous but for how long?
Many thanks !
Me too. And it ended up being a code situation. She was blue w sats in the 40s.Along the same line, what is everyone's BMI cut off? I used to be very conservative and tube anyone over 35 but now have extended that to 40 assuming no history of DM. I was shocked however when I walked into my colleagues room and she had a patient with a BMI of 55 that she just threw in an LMA for.
Agree with above, risks vs benefits, never clear cut and dry. I always had an attending tell me in residency "LMAs are for lazy anesthesiologists". You have to ask yourself what is the benefit to putting in an LMA vs a tube. When it boils down to it, there isn't many benefits. The decreased sore throat never convinced me, maybe less hoarseness. I would add I don't put LMAs in patients when the positioning is high lithotomy regardless of BMI.
Someone in this thread mentioned NMB with an LMA in place. I do it several times a week(mid case, 99% of times with mivacurium, since we're too cheap to pour sugammadex at our patients) , but really hate it with Uniques, since any tone keeping a tight seal disappears, and airway leaks go way beyond what constitutes a safe working environment. Igels are a little better, I find, but if I know with some certainty the surgery involves areas close to the obturator nerve, I like to save myself the hassle, talk to my attending and just prop/roc/tube.
Along the same line, what is everyone's BMI cut off? I used to be very conservative and tube anyone over 35 but now have extended that to 40 assuming no history of DM. I was shocked however when I walked into my colleagues room and she had a patient with a BMI of 55 that she just threw in an LMA for.
Unfortunately, the malpractice is of a huge concern on the level of Tribes vs Law, the Tribe would charge the physician for malpractice and it happened all the time (especially after 2003 - the word is for Tribes first not Law), and I recall our brilliant Anesthesiologist got caught with Malignant Hyperthermia case at a private hospital - young 20s female for tonsillectomy and the patient died, because we don't have dantrolene unfortunately, they charged him with like 15 thousand dollars and the ENT surgeon with the same, the whole was over 30K US$, and this is after negotiation from 100K like down to 30K after both doctors tribes sat with the patient's tribe and bring another well known figures to judge !Everybody makes mistakes. Some of us actually learn from them; it's called "experience". It's a good sign that you cared enough to have an uneasy feeling during the case.
What we said in this thread applies for elective cases, not emergent ones. Most American anesthesiologists would think very carefully before using an LMA in an emergent case. I would, if I had a well-known fast surgeon, if the case were very short, and if I felt the patient was trustworthy enough (and usually after long NPO times, e.g. somebody who had only had a coffee in the morning before coming to the emergency room), or if the risks of intubation exceeded its benefits, or the risks of its alternatives (e.g. difficult airway).
You have an advantage for training in a country with low malpractice risk; every coin has two sides.