Objective: This study was designed to study the efficacy of Cuffed oropharyngeal airway (COPA) in the patients undergoing short surgical procedures at Siriraj Hospital.
Materials and method: A prospective study of 65 patients, age 15-65 years, scheduled for elective short surgical procedures under general anesthesia were managed with COPA. Lip-mandibular angle distance was used to indicate the appropriate size of COPA. Demographic characteristics, airway assessments, COPA size, insertion time, airway manipulation, complications during COPA insertion, removal and 2 hour postoperative period were recorded.
Results: Success rate of COPA insertion were 93.8 per cent and 4.6 per cent at 1st attempt and 2nd attempt respectively. Insertion time was 53.27 +/- 20.07 seconds. There were 84.4 per cent of patients who needed airway manipulation during anesthesia. The incidence of complications were 12.3 per cent, 13.8 per cent and 15.4 per cent during insertion, removal and 2 hour postoperatively respectively.
Conclusion: COPA is a new adjunctive airway device designed for direct connection with breathing system with a high success rate of insertion. COPA placement is an easy technique to learn but it usually requires a high incidence of airway manipulations such as head turn, jaw thrust, head tilt, and chin lift, so skill and confidence in its use requires instruction and practice. It would be unwise to use a COPA in an emergency without first having become proficient in its use for routine cases.