Complications of using laryngeal mask airway during anaesthesia in patients undergoing major ear surgery

Use of the laryngoscope and tracheal tube during general anaesthesia results in many complications such as sore throat, cough, vocal cord paralysis, compulsory injection of muscle relaxants for tube insertion and risky emergence of anaesthesia. This study investigated the use of laryngeal mask airway (LMA) as a safe and complication-free device in patients undergoing ear surgery. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study on a population comprising patients from 3 to 70 years of age who have undergone major ear surgery, in Amir Alam Hospital, from 1999 to 2006. Laryngeal mask airway replaced the tracheal tube in all patients. Of the 2000 patients who underwent major ear surgery with general anaesthesia using LMA, 246 (12.3%) developed haemodynamic instability. A significant relationship was observed between age and haemodynamic instability (p value = 0.03); 14.9% of these patients were aged between 16 and 40 years and 20% were aged > 60 years. No relationship was observed between the occurrence of this complication and duration of surgery (p value = 0.2). Furthermore, no significant relationship was observed between sex and haemodynamic instability. In conclusion, considering the low rate of complications with laryngeal mask airway, replacing tracheal tube with this device in major ear surgery will lead to a noticeable decrease in associated complications.