SummaryWe compared the times to intubate the trachea using three techniques in 60 healthy patients with normal airways: (i) ®breoptic intubation with a 6.0-mm reinforced tracheal tube through a standard laryngeal mask airway (laryngeal mask)®breoptic group); (ii) ®breoptic intubation with a dedicated 7.0-mm silicone tracheal tube through the intubating laryngeal mask airway (intubating laryngeal mask)®breoptic group); (iii) blind intubation with the dedicated 7.0-mm silicone tracheal tube through the intubating laryngeal mask airway (intubating laryngeal mask)blind group). Mean (SD) total intubation times were signi®cantly shorter in the intubating laryngeal mask)blind group (49 (20) s) than in either of the other two groups (intubating laryngeal mask)®breoptic 74 (21) s; laryngeal mask)®breoptic group 75 (36) s; p < 0.001). However, intubation at the ®rst attempt was less successful with the intubating laryngeal mask)blind technique (15 ¤ 20 (75%)) than in the other two groups (intubating laryngeal mask)®breoptic 19 ¤ 20 (95%) and laryngeal mask)®breoptic 16 ¤ 20 (80%)) although these differences were not statistically signi®cant. We conclude that in this patient group, all three techniques yield acceptable results. If there is a choice of techniques available, the intubating laryngeal mask)blind technique would result in the shortest intubation time.