Bronchial Mucus Transport Velocity in Paralyzed Anesthetized Patients

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Abstract
We compared bronchial mucus transport velocity (BTV), an index of mucociliary clearance, between the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) and the tracheal tube (TT).Forty patients were studied during propofol anesthesia and muscle relaxation with rocuronium. BTV was measured 10 and 60 min after insertion of the airway device by fiberoptic observation of the movement of methylene blue dye injected onto the dorsal surface of the left main bronchus. BTV for the LMA was similar at 10 and 60 min (13.9 +/- 2.0 and 13.6 +/- 2.1 mm/min, respectively). BTV for the TT was significantly faster at 10 min that at 60 min (13.0 +/- 1.4 vs 6.9 +/- 1.2 mm/min, respectively; P (Anesth Analg 1998;86:1280-2)