This paper provides the background, available evidence base, and justification for each step in the resultant guidelines and gives a rationale for their use.

Cuffed tracheal tubes are rarely routinely used in children, particularly in the under 8 yr age group, in specialist paediatric centres in the UK. When used, it is predominantly for a specific indication, and the monitoring of intracuff pressure is not routine. Current expert consensus is that complications are equally as common when using a cuffed as an uncuffed tube.

No abstract