The oesophageal detector device. A prospective trial on 100 patients

Misplacement of a tracheal tube in the oesophagus remains a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in anaesthesia, despite decades of effort aimed at prevention, or perhaps more importantly, detection, of such an event. We have evaluated a cheap, simple and quick device which relies mainly on the reflation or otherwise of an Ellick's evacuator applied to the supposed 'tracheal' tube. Identical tracheal tubes were passed into the trachea and oesophagus of 100 patients; the left and right position in the mouth was chosen at random. The test was conducted by a second anaesthetist, not present at intubation, and unaware of which tube was in the trachea. There were no false positive results and the correct deduction of which was the tracheal tube was reached in 100 tests using this device. Its use is recommended for widespread evaluation as a valuable adjunct to existing methods of detecting misplacement.