The invention provides an artificial airway device to facilitate lung ventilation of a patient, comprising at least one airway tube and a mask carried at one end of the at least one airway tube, the mask having a peripheral formation capable of conforming to, and of readily fitting within, the actual and potential space behind the larynx of the patient so as to form a seal around the circumference of the laryngeal inlet, the peripheral formation surrounding a hollow interior space or lumen of the mask and the at least one airway tube opening into the lumen of the mask, wherein the mask is arranged to provide a space within the pharynx of the patient for the drainage of gastric matter leaving the oesophagus, which space approximates to the pharyngeal space that occurs within the pharynx without the mask being present in the pharynx, the effect of which is to re-establish the normal flow of matter exiting the oesphagus in the event of regurgitation or vomiting when the mask is present in the pharynx.
