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Airway management is one of the cornerstones for modern anaesthesia and is vital for all patients undergoing general anaesthesia. Supraglottic airway devices (SADs) are increasingly used for managing airways. The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, ∼250 million patients undergo general anaesthesia for major surgery on an annual basis. ¹ If we translate the figures of the 4th National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Difficult Airway Society (NAP4) in the UK, where almost 60% of the patients receive SADs during anaesthesia, we can assume that annually, ∼150 million such devices are used worldwide. ^2,3

Manufacturers continue to invest in research in designing these devices to prevent aspiration, resulting in first-generation (ventilation channel only) and second-generation (separation of ventilatory and gastric access channels) SADs, with several other modifications and characteristics designed to improve their functionality and safety. ^4–6

Anaesthetists consider the SAD to be a device that is easy to insert and that can be used for ever-increasing indications during various types of general surgery, obstetrics, and gynaecology. They also advocate its use in other areas, including the following: during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, in the department of emergency medicine, in the intensive care unit, in the prehospital setting, and as an important step in the difficult airway algorithm. ^7–9

A. A. J. Van Zundert, C. M. Kumar, T. C. R. V. Van Zundert, Malpositioning of supraglottic airway devices: preventive and corrective strategies, BJA: British Journal of Anaesthesia, Volume 116, Issue 5, May 2016, Pages 579–582, https://doi.org/10.1093/bja/aew104