Question:easy
All are definitive airways except?
All are definitive airways except?
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A definitive airway needs a cuffed tube inside the trachea; supraglottic devices do not count.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Nasotracheal tube
- Orotracheal tube
- Laryngeal mask airway (LMA)
- Cricothyroidotomy
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Test each device against one rule: is there a cuffed tube actually inside the trachea, secured, and able to deliver assisted ventilation while guarding the airway from aspiration? Anything meeting this rule is definitive; anything that merely sits above the larynx is not.
Orotracheal and nasotracheal tubes both place a cuffed lumen through the cords into the trachea, differing only in the route of insertion, so both qualify. A cricothyroidotomy bypasses the upper airway and inserts a tube straight into the trachea through the cricothyroid membrane, which also qualifies as a definitive surgical airway.
The laryngeal mask airway is different in kind. It is a supraglottic device whose inflatable cuff seals around the laryngeal opening from above, but no part of it passes through the cords. Because the trachea is not intubated and aspiration is not securely prevented, it is classed as a temporising rescue airway rather than a definitive one.
So the one device that breaks the rule is the LMA.
\[\boxed{\text{LMA}}\]
Orotracheal and nasotracheal tubes both place a cuffed lumen through the cords into the trachea, differing only in the route of insertion, so both qualify. A cricothyroidotomy bypasses the upper airway and inserts a tube straight into the trachea through the cricothyroid membrane, which also qualifies as a definitive surgical airway.
The laryngeal mask airway is different in kind. It is a supraglottic device whose inflatable cuff seals around the laryngeal opening from above, but no part of it passes through the cords. Because the trachea is not intubated and aspiration is not securely prevented, it is classed as a temporising rescue airway rather than a definitive one.
So the one device that breaks the rule is the LMA.
\[\boxed{\text{LMA}}\]
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