Intersurgical is delighted to announce that our revolutionary supraglottic airway, i-gel™, is now available in four paediatric sizes as well as three adult sizes, making it applicable for use with patients down to 2kg in weight.

i-gel was launched in 2007 and since then has become the supraglottic airway of choice in hundreds of hospitals in the UK, Europe and across the world. The rapid and easy insertion, improved safety provided by the gastric channel¹, low postoperative complications and high seal pressures, provide benefits to both clinician and patient.

In the first global study of the paediatric sizes², conducted at the Hautepierre University Hospital in Strasbourg and presented as an abstract at the SFAR conference in Paris and the ASA in New Orleans in 2009, the overall insertion success rate was 100%. Ventilation was considered good or very good without any episode of desaturation, and in 33 of the 50 cases the authors commented that the patients would have been intubated had an i-gel not been available.

In a recent interview², Professor Diemunsch, chairman of the European Airway Management Society and university professor at the Hautepierre Hospital, commented: “The i-gel device, due to its stability, allows the child to be placed in the lateral decubitis position to perform caudal anaesthesia, without this causing a leak or the displacement of the laryngeal device.”

For those clinicians looking for a suitable supraglottic airway for paediatric anaesthesia, i-gel now offers an exciting and innovative alternative to the traditional laryngeal mask.

References

  1. The size one i-gel does not incorporate a gastric channel
  2. The i-gel in paediatric surgery: Initial series. Claire Bopp, MD, Georgio Carrenard, MD, Chloe Chauvin, MD, Claudine Schwaab, MD, Pierre Diemunsch, MD, PhD. Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, University Hospital of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France. Abstract presented at the ASA in New Orleans. 2009. No A147
  3. Interview with Professor Pierre Diemunsch. University Hospital of Strasbourg. Capital Medical Equipment. 2009. No 124