Placing the tip of the endotracheal tube at the carina and passing the endobronchial blocker through the Murphy eye may reduce the risk of blocker retrograde dislodgement during one-lung anaesthesia in small children.

Abstract

We present nine cases of one-lung anaesthesia in small children and infants in which a novel technique was used to reduce the risk of endobronchial blocker retrograde dislodgement. The technique involved threading the stem of the blocker through the Murphy eye of the endotracheal tube (ETT) and deliberately passing the tip of the ETT all the way to the carina. The tip of the ETT blocked any retrograde movement of the blocker.