Misplacement of left-sided double-lumen tubes into the right mainstem bronchus: incidence, risk factors and blind repositioning techniques

Table 1 Clinical and anatomical characteristics of the patients

	Right bronchial misplacement (n = 48)	Left bronchial placement (n = 1087)	P-value
Age (yr)	60 ± 12	57 ± 15	0.181
Gender (male/female)	15/33	687/400	<0.001
Height (cm)	159 ± 8	164 ± 8	<0.001
Weight (kg)	60 ± 11	61 ± 10	0.884
Laryngoscopic grade (1/2/3)	41/5/2	920/130/37	0.887
Double-lumen tube size (32/35/37 Fr)	18/17/13	169/322/596	<0.001
Level of intubation practitioner^a (2nd/3rd/4th/specialist)	22/11/9/6	525/271/189/102	0.833
RC distance (mm)	7.3 ± 3.7	8.1 ± 3.0	0.136
LC distnace (mm)	6.7 ± 3.4	7.4 ± 2.8	0.122
Tracheal diameter (mm)	14.0 ± 2.2	15.4 ± 2.6	0.001
Right tracheobronchial angle (°)	147 ± 11	146 ± 11	0.456
Left tracheobronchial angle (°)	138 ± 13	137 ± 11	0.496
Right bronchial diameter (mm)	12.0 ± 2.0	13.0 ± 1.9	0.003
Left bronchial diameter (mm)	10.7 ± 1.7	11.4 ± 1.8	0.016

Values are given as mean ± SD or number of patients
RC and LC distances: horizontal distances between the carina and the right or left internal borders of the trachea at 3 cm above the carina; Tracheal diameter: sum of the RC and LC distances
^aThe level of experience of the anesthesiologists performing the first intubation attempt. The ordinal numbers mean the grades of anesthesia residents

ISSN: 1471-2253