The haemodynamic response to the insertion of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) was assessed and compared to that of laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation in a study of forty patients (ASA 1) randomly allocated into two groups and anaesthetised using a standard balanced anaesthetic technique. The results show that the changes in all cardiovascular parameters measured following LMA insertion were significantly less (P < 0.05) when compared with those following laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation. We conclude that airway management with the LMA may be used to avoid the haemodynamic response to tracheal intubation where such a response is undesirable.