• Amanda Vance, Erik H Hofmeister, Cody Laas, and Jamie Williams.
• College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
• Vet Anaesth Analg. 2011 May 1; 38 (3): 203-7.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of extubation with the endotracheal tube (ETT) cuff inflated versus deflated on endotracheal fluid volume in normal canine cadavers.Study DesignProspective randomized blinded controlled cadaver study.AnimalsSixteen adult Beagle cadavers weighing 10.7 ± 1.7 kg (mean ± SD) and <2 years of age.MethodsCadavers were orotracheally intubated in lateral recumbency, and the ETT cuffs were inflated to a closing pressure of 20 cm H2O before barium was introduced orad to the cuff. The dogs were randomly assigned to an ETT cuff extubation condition of deflated or unchanged from the original closing pressure. After extubation, lateral thoracic radiographs of the cadavers were obtained and scored by three independent blinded reviewers. Each reviewer ordered all 16 lateral radiographs from most to least intratracheal contrast and also estimated residual intratracheal contrast volume.ResultsDogs extubated with a deflated ETT cuff had a median rank of 13 and dogs extubated with an inflated ETT cuff had a median rank of 4.5 (p<0.0001). Dogs extubated with a deflated ETT cuff had an estimated intratracheal volume of fluid of 1.8 mL ± 0.7 mL (mean ± SD) and dogs extubated with an inflated ETT cuff had an estimated volume of 0.9 mL ± 0.5 mL (p < 0.0001). Fleiss Kappa for agreement among evaluators was 0.875.Conclusions And Clinical RelevanceExtubation with the cuff inflated removed more liquid contents from the trachea than extubation with the cuff deflated and may assist in the prevention of pulmonary aspiration when fluid is present in the proximal trachea. The technique did not remove all fluid so the potential for pulmonary damage remains.© 2011 The Authors. Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia © 2011 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists.

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