[Supraglottic airways in infants and children]

The development of the LMA-Classic™ revolutionized anaesthesia practice as its wide-spread use led to the establishment of a unique form of airway management, the "supraglottic airway management", besides the existing classical airway management with the face mask or endotracheal tube. Today, 25 years later, along with the original prototype of supraglottic airways quite a few numbers of different devices exist that can be used to secure the airway "above the glottis". After initially primarily marketing adult sizes many suppliers offer paediatric sizes nowadays. However, the scientific evidence in terms of superiority or at a least equality to the original LMA-Classic( of any of these airway devices must be considered insufficient except for the LMA-ProSeal™. Consequently, the routine use of these devices outside controlled clinical studies must be considered questionable. The following article aims at providing a critical appraisal of currently available supraglottic airway devices for neonates and infants.