Difference between Laryngeal Mask and Endotracheal Tube

During critical medical conditions or surgeries, breathing properly becomes a strenuous activity for the patients. Providing a support for maintaining a regular breathing pattern becomes necessary. That is when the practice of endotracheal intubation started. Endotracheal intubation is a procedure in which a tube is inserted through the mouth and is slowly slid into the trachea. The flexible plastic tube that is slipped into the trachea is known as the endotracheal tube. The procedure is mostly done when the patient is under deep sedation.

Endotracheal intubation was important to serve the patients a free airway passage to breathe. Air can easily pass through the endotracheal tube all the way to the lungs and keep them ventilated. They can also be connected to ventilation machines to support artificial respiration. In critical conditions, artificial respiration helps patients immensely to breathe comfortably a rhythm that is regularly monitored by Littmann stethoscopes in India. Although endotracheal intubation was very useful, its advantages were overshadowed by its complications.

If the tube inadvertently enters the esophagus, the patient will not be able to breathe efficiently. There are chances of cardiac arrest, brain damage or even death. Aspiration in the stomach may result in pneumonia and ARDs. Inserting it properly is also a complicated task and may damage the teeth, the throat or the vocal chords. It is factors like these that led to the invention of supraglottic airway devices (SADs). Supraglottic airway devices are same as an endotracheal tube. They perform the same tasks but have eliminated the complications of an endotracheal intubation. That is why they replaced endotracheal intubation so swiftly.   

The Laryngeal Mask Airway, also known by the epithet Laryngeal Mask, is used to intubate patients as an alternative to the endotracheal tube. Previously, intubating patients in critical conditions were difficult, but Laryngeal Masks have eliminated the shortcoming of the endotracheal tube and have substituted it. It causes less gastric distention and is less likely to induce aspiration in the patients.  

An LMA is a supraglottic device, means, when inserted correctly it sits above the glottis in the hypopharynx. The tube looks like an ET tube on the proximal end and can be easily attached to an Ambu bag. On the other end, there is an elliptical-shaped mask that helps the air to pass through the trachea and into the lungs, while blocking the esophagus at the same time. Although this device was designed to use in short elective surgeries, its efficiency has made it a perfect alternative for the endotracheal tube. More developments are being made and LMAs will soon be available with attached sound monitors. It allows fast and accurate placement regardless of the circumstances.