Background and aims: The Baska mask (BM) and the Ambu AuraGain (AAG) have shown promising results in recent trials but have not been compared. Therefore, we aimed to compare the clinical performance of the BM and the AAG for airway management of adult patients.
Methods: In this randomised comparative study, patients aged 18-60 years and with an expected surgical duration of less than 2 h were enroled. Patients were randomly allocated to AAG (Group A, n = 37) and BM (Group B, n = 37) for airway management. After induction of anaesthesia, an allocated supraglottic airway device (SAD) was inserted. Oropharyngeal leak pressure (OLP), time taken to insert SAD, number of insertion attempts, leak fraction (LF), first-attempt success rate, overall success rate, ease of insertion, fiberoptic view of the glottis, and complications were compared. The data were analysed using Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Fisher's exact tests.
Results: Baseline and demographic characteristics were comparable. OLP (31.32 ± 2.59 versus 27.54 ± 1.32 cmH2O) was higher (P < 0.001), and LF (6.19% ± 1.20% versus 7.24% ± 1.72%) was lower (P = 0.003) in the BM group. First-attempt and overall success rate, time taken to insert, number of insertion attempts, ease of insertion, and fibreoptic view of glottis through the SADs were statistically similar between groups. However, the incidence of sore throat (P = 0.007) and cough (P = 0.028) was higher with AAG.
Conclusion: Clinical performance of BM was better than AAG as the former had higher OLP, lower LF and complications.
Keywords: Airway management; Ambu AuraGain; Baska mask; laryngeal masks; oropharyngeal leak pressure; supraglottic airway devices.
Copyright: © 2023 Indian Journal of Anaesthesia.