Endotracheal Tubes: Parts and FAQ

What is an Endotracheal Tube?

Background:

What are endotracheal tubes and why are they needed? When a patient requires a secure airway, the anesthetist or other highly trained health care provider will place a devices known as Endotracheal tubes aka ET-Tube in the patient’s trachea. The anesthetist will pass the endotracheal tube through the mouth and into the trachea during a procedure known as intubation. Intubation allows positive pressure ventilation and an airway secure from aspiration.

For the anesthetist to place the ET- tube during intubation, The provider will use one of several available devices to place the endotracheal tube.

Instruments to perform Endotracheal Intubation:

• Laryngoscope
• GlideScope
• C-Mac
• Fiber Optic EndoScope

Parts of the Endotracheal tube

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ET Tube FAQ:

• Made of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)
• Tubes are Single use
• Tube cuffs are low pressure to avoid injury to the trachea.
• There is a Radio Opaque line on ET Tubes so they can be seen on X-ray.  

Here are a few types of Endotracheal Tubes:

• Nasal RAE tube
• Double Lumen Tube
• Oral Rae
• Pediatric  tube
• Adult Tube