Endotracheal Tube Suctioning Versus No Suctioning During Emergence From General Anesthesia

Authors
Category Primary study
Registry of TrialsClinicalTrials.gov
Year 2025
The goal of this study is to determine whether omitting tracheal suctioning immediately prior to extubation is non-inferior to routine tracheal suctioning with respect to early postoperative oxygenation among adult surgical patients (aged 18-90 years, American Society of Anesthesiologists \[ASA\] physical status I-III) undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation. The study addresses the following questions: * Primary outcome (non-inferiority): * Is the risk of postoperative desaturation (oxygen saturation \[SpO₂\] \<92% within 60 minutes after extubation) in the no-suction group not worse than in the routine-suction group by more than 10 percentage points? * Secondary outcomes (superiority): * Does omitting tracheal suctioning reduce postoperative cough severity and sore throat? * Does omitting tracheal suctioning avoid increasing extubation-related adverse events? Participants will be randomly assigned (1:1) to one of two groups: * Routine suctioning (SUC): Endotracheal suctioning plus oropharyngeal suctioning immediately before extubation * No suctioning (NON-SUC): Oropharyngeal suctioning only, without endotracheal suctioning All participants will receive standard anesthetic care and postoperative monitoring in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) for 60 minutes. Follow-up for airway symptoms and patient satisfaction will be conducted at 24 hours after surgery.
Epistemonikos ID: c49bee8799a1a9113ffa30b324058f10921e3acb
First added on: Dec 18, 2025