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Our results suggest that laryngoscopy facilitates i-gel insertion by novice doctors, as reflected in the rate of successful insertions, higher sealing pressure, and lower subjective difficulty of insertion in anesthetized patients.

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BackgroundIntubation of patients with laryngeal granulomas on the vocal folds are sometimes difficult to manage because of potential airway obstruction. Laryngeal granulomas usually have flexible stalks where they attach to the vocal folds. We report a worst-case scenario of dislocation of the laryngeal granuloma during induction of anaesthesia.Case presentationWe present a case of laryngeal granulomas on the posterior vocal fold. A 20-year-old woman had an approximately 10-mm tumour in the laryngeal arytenoid region. Manual ventilation resulted in the tumour lodging in the subglottis and the inflated cuff of the intubation tube successfully returned it to its original position during tube withdrawal. Images were obtained using an Airway Scope® (Hoya-Pentax, Tokyo, Japan) and a video laryngoscope.ConclusionIn our case, the tumour was benign and relatively small in size; therefore, we did not select tracheotomy as an airway management strategy. The case had a granulomatous tumour arising from the posterior vocal folds on the right side, and the tumour was very flexible. To promptly gain control of the airway in such a case using direct laryngoscopy, thus avoiding tracheotomy, other strategies are suggested, such as bronchoscopic visualization with awake or semi-awake intubation.

Bone cancer pain control is difficult because it includes various characteristics of pain such as nociceptic and neuropathic pain. In this study, we investigated the effect of yokukansan (YKS), one of the traditional Japanese herbal medicines, on cancer pain in mouse bone metastasis model. Oral administration of YKS significantly alleviated pain behavior measured by quantitative body weight bearing. Furthermore, the pain behavior was also significantly alleviated by intrathecal and intraperitoneal administration of matrix metalloproteinase- (MMP-) 9 inhibitor, but not of MMP-2 inhibitor. MMP-9 expression was significantly elevated in the bone tissue on day 3 after carcinoma cell injection and in the ipsilateral spinal cord on day 7, which was suppressed by YKS administration. Taken together, these results suggest that YKS alleviates cancer pain via suppressing MMP-9 expression in bone metastasis model in mice.