Head Position for Laryngeal Mask Air Leak and Performance in Paediatric Patients (Neutral, Sniffing and Beyond Sniffing Position)

Plain-language summary

The correct head position for airway management is considered as a mainstay of good clinical practice. The recommended head position for all patients is the horizontal position of the head with in tragus-to- sternal notch in line alignment. This could be achieved in infant (under two years) supporting the shoulder, neutral head positioning in children between 2-8 (12) years and with so called "sniffing position" (SP) in patients over 12 year by supporting the head (i.e. with pillow) to reach the proper alignment (tragus to sternal notch). Although, this could be considered as gold standard, there are currently insufficient high quality evidence-based data to confirm the association between the better laryngeal view during the direct laryngoscopy and tragus-to-sternal notch position. Recently, "beyond sniffing" position was described as further head elevation (compared to sniffing position) in adult patients. Beyond sniffing position was associated with superior laryngeal inlet visualization compared to standard sniffing position in common elective adult airway management (patients with suspected or confirmed difficult airway was excluded). The hypothesis of SNIFF LM trial is that the sniffing position or even beyond sniffing position could be associated with superior laryngeal mask performance (lower incidence of air leak, LM easier introduction) compared neutral position in paediatric patients undergoing elective paediatric anaesthesia

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