Endotracheal Tube Sizes During Surgical Procedures in Adult Patients. A Systematic Review With Meta‐Analyses and Trial Sequential Analyses
Authors' conclusion
The findings suggest that selecting a smaller tube size for endotracheal intubation may potentially enhance patient comfort and recovery.
Study context
- Population
- Adult surgical patients undergoing GA for elective procedures with endotracheal intubation
- Participants
- 917 patients · 6 RCTs
- Comparison
- Smaller vs larger ETT sizes
- Outcome
- Proportion of participants with postoperative sore throat after intubation
Methodological detailstrial sequential analysis, GRADE, Last search February 10, 2025 (CENTRAL, OVID, EMBASE), All included trials at high risk of bias; very low to moderate quality of evidence
- Trial sequential analysis
- GRADE
- Last search February 10, 2025 (CENTRAL, OVID, EMBASE)
- All included trials at high risk of bias; very low to moderate quality of evidence
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Postoperative sore throat · 1 and 24 h postoperatively
- Significant reduction in favour of smaller tube sizes for sore throat at 1 and 24 h
- Trial Sequential Analyses (TSA): required information size not reached, but Z-curve crossed the upper boundary
Further pooled results
Postoperative hoarseness · 1 and 24 h postoperatively
- Significant reduction in favour of smaller tube sizes
Safety
Adverse events and airway injury
- No significant difference between smaller and larger tube sizes
Original publication
Endotracheal Tube Sizes During Surgical Procedures in Adult Patients. A Systematic Review With Meta‐Analyses and Trial Sequential Analyses. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. Published 11 June 2025. doi:10.
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