NCT07287293

Endotracheal Tube Suctioning Versus No Suctioning During Emergence From General Anesthesia

Comparison of Endotracheal Tube Suctioning Versus No Suctioning During Emergence From General Anesthesia With Endotracheal Intubation: A Randomized, Single-Blind Study

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 408 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Mahidol University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

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.

Conditions

• Hypoxia
• Airway Obstruction, Postoperative
• Sore Throat
• Cough, Postoperative

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Routine Endotracheal Suctioning	Endotracheal suctioning performed immediately prior to extubation using standard suction pressure and technique. Oropharyngeal suctioning was also performed according to routine clinical practice.
PROCEDURE	Omission of Endotracheal Suctioning	Oropharyngeal suctioning only was performed prior to extubation. No suction catheter was inserted into the trachea.

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-01-05
• Primary completion: 2026-12-31
• Completion: 2027-03-31
• First posted: 2025-12-17
• Last updated: 2026-01-12

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Thailand