i-gel use in diving medicine
An interesting paper has been published in ‘Diving & Hyperbaric Medicine’, entitled, ‘Extraglottic airway devices for use in diving medicine – part 3. The i-gel’. This study looked at the use of i-gel in airway management of a patient in a diving bell or deck decompression chamber. The study highlighted the potential limitations of some supraglottic airways used in Hyperbaric Medicine, such as possible cuff expansion with a decrease in pressure on decompression and change in cuff volume due to gas diffusion as the gas mixtures breathed change, problems not associated with i-gel. It showed that, subjectively, there was no change in the consistency of the i-gel at 203 and 283kPa pressure and that no bubbles were detected following decompression from 203, 283 or 608kPa. The i-gel was also preferred by the Diver Medical Technician’s (DMT’s) to the alternative device included in the manikin section of the study because it ‘lacked a cuff and was easier to insert from any position’. For further details we would recommend contacting the South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society at http://www.spums.org.au/.
Ref: Acott CJ: Extraglottic airway devices for use in diving medicine – part 3: The i-gel: Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine. 2008;38: 124-7.
