Use of Transparent Film Dressing to Facilitate Mask Ventilation in Bearded Patients

Mask ventilation is a critical airway procedure made more difficult in the bearded patient.

We sought to objectively investigate whether application of transparent cling film (Tegaderm^TM; 3M Healthcare, Maplewood, MN) over a beard in the operating room improves the quality of mask ventilation.

This was a randomized crossover trial of bearded adult patients undergoing surgery. Exclusions included emergency procedures, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification > 3, a documented history of difficult mask ventilation, and body mass index (BMI) > 50. Transparent cling film was applied snuggly over the lower face with a 2- to 3-cm slit cut over the mouth after anesthesia induction. Mask ventilation performed by an anesthesiology resident, anesthesiology assistant, or anesthesiology assistant student and standardized to a thenar-eminence grip without use of airway adjuncts in a sniffing position. Standardized pressure-controlled ventilations were delivered via an anesthesia machine. A calibrated external pneumotachograph was used to measure delivered and returned tidal volumes from which raw and percent air leak were calculated. A clinically significant difference was determined a priori to be 15%, necessitating the enrollment of 25 patients.

Of 25 subjects, 96% were men with a mean ± SD BMI of 29.3 ± 6. Seventeen (68%) had a full beard and 8 (32%) had a partial beard. The mean ± SD leakage was 48% ± 26% for transparent cling film vs. 46% ± 20% without its application, which was not significantly different (p = 0.67).

The use of transparent cling film to cover the lower half of the bearded face did not have an impact on the ability or efficacy to perform mask ventilation in the operating room setting.

gov, Number NCT04274686.