Supraglottic airways were linked to fewer respiratory events in children with reactive airways

The edition in brief

A retrospective propensity-weighted registry study of 4,878 children with airway hyperresponsiveness, such as a recent respiratory infection, asthma exacerbation or household smoke exposure, found that supraglottic airway placement was associated with a lower risk of respiratory adverse events (adjusted RR 0.41), airway-related events (0.32) and severe desaturation (0.47) compared with tracheal intubation, with residual confounding possible. A randomised trial of 60 children having palate surgery found better feeding in the first 24 hours, lower early pain scores and less rescue paracetamol with bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve blocks than greater palatine blocks. A meta-analysis of 13 studies, mostly retrospective, linked total intravenous anaesthesia to better overall survival after oesophagogastric cancer surgery (HR 0.80), with benefit seen after gastrectomy but not oesophagectomy.