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The use of bromothymol blue and sodium thiopentone to confirm tracheal intubation.

John Dingley

Anaesthesia, Volume: 51, Issue: 1, Pages: 29 - 32

Swansea University Author: John Dingley

Abstract

The possibility of using chemical changes to confirm correct tracheal tube placement was investigated with a view to their use in developing countries where more sophisticated methods are unavailable. The effect of bubbling expired gases through a 10% solution of bromothymol blue and a 0.25% solutio...

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Published in: Anaesthesia
Published: 1996
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa27513
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Abstract: The possibility of using chemical changes to confirm correct tracheal tube placement was investigated with a view to their use in developing countries where more sophisticated methods are unavailable. The effect of bubbling expired gases through a 10% solution of bromothymol blue and a 0.25% solution of thiopentone led to chemical changes producing, in the case of bromothymol blue, a colour change and in that of thiopentone, precipitation, probably due to a change in pH caused by carbon dioxide. We also discovered that the time to precipitation of the thiopentone could be greatly reduced if it was mixed with a precise quantity of lignocaine. These simple end points can reliably confirm the correct placement of a tracheal tube at least as rapidly as the correct use of capnography.
College: Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
Issue: 1
Start Page: 29
End Page: 32