The Effects of Flexible Intubating Stylet in the Accurate Placement of Double-lumen Endobronchial Tube

The Effects of Flexible Trachway(R) Intubating Stylet in the Accurate Placement of Left-sided Double-lumen Endobronchial Tube

The purpose of this study is to determine whether using the flexible Trachway(R) intubating stylet could facilitate and promote the accurate placement of double-lumen endobronchial tube.

How to accurately place the left-sided double-lumen endobronchial tube (DLT) in the trachea remains a great challenge for anesthesiologists. Although new upper airway devices, such as flexible Trachway (R), a video-assisted intubating stylet, had been developed for facilitating airway management, the larger size and the complexity of DLT makes the difficulties for accurate placement of DLT blindly. Therefore, the investigators designed this study to investigate the effects of flexibleTrachway(R) intubating stylet in the placement of left-sided DLT in the trachea.

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-III
• More than 18 years of age
• Requiring DLT for thoracic surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

• risk of regurgitation and pulmonary aspiration
• history of gastroesophageal reflux, pregnancy
• scheduled tracheostomy and postoperative prolonged ventilation in ICU
• patients with limited neck extension (< 35°)
• a distance between the tip of the patient's mandible and hyoid bone of less than 7 cm
• a sternomental distance of less than 12.5 cm with the head fully extended
• mouth can not open