[Cuff damage of the tracheal mucosa in intubation. Experimental examinations of the trachea of the human corpse (author's transl)].

Changes of the submucous vascular network caused by compression were examined in tracheas of human bodies. Perfusing with a constant pressure of 150 mm Hg we varied the cuff pressure (high-pressure-cuffs: 100, 150 and 200 mm Hg, low-pressure-cuffs: 20, 30 and 40 mm Hg). Considering very distinct lesions caused by high-pressure-cuffs they had not to be used any more at all. The modern low-pressure-cuffs can also cause deficiencies of filling in the submucous vessels, even though rather low pressures are used. Those results are in accordance with the ones found by other authors by experiments with animals.