• P Casals-Caus, V Mayoral-Rojals, M A Canales, V Ruiz-Tamarit, A Casals-Castells, and J Cochs-Cristià.
• Departamento de Anestesiología, Reanimación y Terapia del Dolor, Ciutat Sanitària i Universitària de Bellvitge.
• Rev Esp Anestesiol Reanim. 1997 Oct 1;44(8):302-4.

Hypothesis And ObjectivesInflation of the tracheal tube cuff to facilitate blind nasal intubation as described by Gobarck in 1987 has been shown to be effective for increasing the rate of successful intubation from 45 to 95% in patients with no airway alterations. We aimed to assess the usefulness of this technique in patients with anatomical alterations of the airway, in whom difficult intubation was predicted.Patients And MethodsWe enrolled 25 patients with airway alterations that made laryngoscopy likely to be difficult and who were scheduled for neoplastic maxillofacial surgery.ResultsTwelve patients (48%) were intubated on the first try, 5 (20%) on the second try and 6 (24%) on the third try. We were unable to intubate 2 patients (8%) after three tries, and therefore opted to intubate with a fiberoptic endoscope.ConclusionsInflation of the tracheal tube cuff is useful for facilitating nasotracheal intubation in the awake patient.

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