Tracheal suction in meconium stained infants: a randomized controlled study.

We performed a randomized controlled study of the mortality and morbidity of 49 babies born with thick meconium staining of amniotic fluid. These unasphyxiated babies were consecutively born and were admitted to the intensive care unit for observation as routine. The groups were comparable in regard to sex, birth weight, gestational age, maternal factors like anaemia, toxaemia, antepartum haemorrhage, prolonged rupture of membranes, presentation, and interventions including caesarian section. The control group, comprising 26 babies received only oropharyngeal suction, while the intervention group, comprising 23 babies, underwent oropharyngeal suction followed by tracheal suction. There was no significant difference in the mortality or morbidity in form of evidence of air leak or hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.