Anesth Pain Med.  2008 Jul;3(3):197-199.

Predicting the Depth of Insertion of Left-sided Double-Lumen Endotrachial Tubes in Koreans

• Lee SI
• Choe WJ
• Baek DJ
• Kim JY
• Kim KT
• Park JS
• Kim JW

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Proper positioning of a double-lumen endobronchial tube is very important for lung isolation. This is best achieved by using a fiberoptic bronchoscope. Yet it is also important to predict the proper length when performing bronchoscopy is not possibe. In a previous report, the ideal depth of insertion of the left-sided double lumen endobronchial tube (DLT) was significantly correlated with the patient's height and the clavicular-to-carinal distance of the trachea. The aim of our study is to see whether that result can be applied to Koreans or not.
METHODS
Forty eight patients who undergoing one lung ventilation (OLV) were intubated with a left-sided DLT. After proper positioning was achieved by bronchoscopy, we measured the depth of the tube at the upper incisor. Multiple linear regression analysis was done to determine the correlation of the depth of insertion with other factors.
RESULTS
In Koreans, the depth of insertion was 9.216 + 0.104 x height + 1.797 x gender (male = 1, female = 0, R = 0.912, P = 0.003).
CONCLUSIONS
In Koreans, the depth of insertion was only correlated with the gender and height of the patient, but not with the clavicle-to-carinal distance.

Keyword

depth of insertion; Korean; left-sided double lumen endobronchial tube

MeSH Terms

Bronchoscopes
Bronchoscopy
Female
Humans
Incisor
Linear Models
Lung
One-Lung Ventilation
Trachea