Cuff inflation-supplemented laryngoscope-guided nasal intubation: a comparison of three endotracheal tubes.

Background: Softer endotracheal (ET) tubes are more difficult to navigate in the oropharynx than the stiffer polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tubes during nasotracheal intubation (NTI). Cuff inflation has been used to guide PVC tubes into the laryngeal inlet during blind NTI, but it has not been tested when performing NTI under direct laryngoscopic guidance. We assessed the role of cuff inflation in improving oropharyngeal navigation of 3 ET tubes of varying stiffness during direct laryngoscope-guided NTI.