A patient on mechanical ventilation has a cuff pressure measurement of 18 cm H2O while low-pressure and low-tidal-volume alarms are sounding. What immediate action should you take?

• A. Add air until only a slight leak is heard while auscultating the larynx, then measure pressure.
• B. Deflate the cuff completely and re-inflate to a fixed value.
• C. Ignore the cuff pressure and rely on ventilator alarms only.
• D. Increase tidal volume to compensate for cuff leak.

Answer: (A)