2 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
General anesthesia is a treatment with medicine to make a patient unconscious for surgery. This is sometimes called "being put to sleep" or "being put under." Most of the time, a breathing tube is used to help a machine breathe for patients. The breathing tube has a cuff, which is like a small balloon. After the breathing tube is placed, the cuff is inflated. This keeps the breathing tube in place and keeps fluids like saliva and stomach juices from getting into the windpipe and lungs. When a breathing tube is removed, that is called extubation. Normally, doctors deflate the cuff before removing the breathing tube. This is called deflated cuff extubation. Some doctors worry that keeping the cuff inflated while it is removed can damage the throat or vocal cords. However, some doctors keep the cuff inflated when removing the breathing tube. This is called inflated cuff extubation. These doctors think that keeping the cuff inflated can help keep fluids from entering the airway. Doctors have not studied if deflated cuff extubation is better or worse than inflated cuff extubation. The goal of this study is to see which type of extubation is better at keeping fluids from getting in the airway. Participants who are part of this study will get general anesthesia and have surgery as planned. Near the end of surgery, a small amount of liquid is placed at the back of a participant's mouth. This liquid is called contrast material, and it is like a dye. The contrast material will help determine if any liquid enters the windpipe or lungs. Then, contrast material is removed, along with any other fluids, using normal methods. When it is safe to take the breathing tube out, a deflated cuff extubation or an inflated cuff extubation will be performed. This decision will be made at random, like by the flip of a coin. Information will be collected about participants, the surgery, and how well a participant is breathing. After surgery, a chest x-ray will be taken to see if any of the contrast material is in the windpipe or lungs. Otherwise, everything else after surgery would be normal. 24 to 48 hours after surgery, a member of the research team will ask about any symptoms a participant may have, like sore throat or a hoarse voice. Research would conclude at that time.
Aerosol Generating Medical Procedures (AGMP) are procedures that have the potential to create tiny particles suspended in the air. These particles can contain germs such as viruses. The current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 experience unusually high rates of critical illness that needs advanced airway management and intensive care unit admission. Bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation, laryngeal mask airway insertion (LMA), and endotracheal Intubation (ETI) are common AGMP for critically ill COVID-19 patients, and may contribute to a high risk of infection amongst Health Care Workers (HCW). To lessen HCW risk during high-risk AGMPs, a device called an aerosol box has been developed to place over the head of the patient, shielding the provider's face from virus droplets suspended in the air. The purpose of this research study is to better understand how particles disperse during AGMPs. The project team hopes what is learned from the project can help inform infection control measures. This could help make changes to the clinical environment and make it safer for HCW's. The investigators intend to investigate how an aerosol box performs in reducing contamination of HCW's who perform critical airway interventions.