High-flow Nasal Cannula for Pediatric Anesthetic Induction

Endotracheal intubation in infants often involves more than one attempt, and oxygen desaturation is common. It is unclear whether nasal high-flow therapy, which extends the time to desaturation during elective intubation in infants receiving general anesthesia, can decrease the occurence of desaturation during intubation. The investigators tested the hypothesis that high-flow nasal oxygen cannulae would be effective in maintaining oxygen saturation during intubation than facemasks for pre-oxygenation. The investigators randomly allocated 132 patients undergoing elective surgery aged \<=12 months to pre-oxygenation using either high-flow nasal oxygen or facemask.