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Ultrasonography in the preoperative difficult airway assessment

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Abstract

To evaluate the utility of ultrasound for detection of the difficult intubation in a preoperative setting. PubMed, Ovid, CINAHL Plus Full Text, and Google Scholar searches using [“difficult airway” OR “difficult intubation” OR “difficult laryngoscopy” OR “difficult ventilation”] AND [ultrasonography OR sonography OR ultrasound] without date limitations. Abstracts without publications, case reports, letters, textbooks, unrelated topics, or foreign language articles were excluded. Ancestry references were included from the reviewed articles. Two reviewers independently performed the query. Each study was reviewed using the STARD checklist to assess blinding, incomplete data reporting, subject attrition, and selection of appropriate statistical tests. Ten studies were included. All used convenience sampling of adult subjects requiring direct laryngoscopy in elective surgical settings. One study is retrospective and nine are prospective observational. Populations included non-obese, obese, pregnant, and thyroidectomy patients in the United States, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Portugal, and China. Airway locations scanned are variable using different protocols and patient positioning. The outcome variable is uniformly the Cormack–Lehane Grade. 114 of the 681 total subjects had difficult laryngoscopies. Significance for sonographic prediction of difficult laryngoscopy occurred at three locations: hyomental distance [52.6 ± 5.8 mm (p < 0.01)], anterior tissue at the hyoid bone [16.9 mm (95 % CI 11.9–21.9) and 15.9 ± 2.7 mm (p < 0.0001)], and the thyrohyoid membrane [34.7 mm (95 % CI 28.8–40.7) and 23.9 ± 3.4 mm (p < 0.0001) and 28.25 ± 4.43 mm (p < 0.001)]. The vocal cords and sternal notch levels have conflicting significance. Limitations include the heterogeneous populations and lack of standard scanning protocols.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the faculty of the United States Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing, as well as the staff of the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center for their continuous and continued support in their academic endeavors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. United States Army Graduate Program of Anesthesia Nursing (USAGPAN), Fort Sam Houston, TX, USA

    Justin S. Fulkerson, Heather M. Moore, Tristan S. Anderson & Robert F. Lowe Jr.

  2. Veteran’s Health Administration Medical Center, Dallas VAMC, Dallas, TX, USA

    Justin S. Fulkerson

  3. Veteran’s Health Administration Medical Center, San Diego VAMC, San Diego, CA, USA

    Heather M. Moore

  4. Veteran’s Health Administration Medical Center, Temple VAMC, Temple, TX, USA

    Tristan S. Anderson

  5. Veteran’s Health Administration Medical Center, Denver VAMC, Denver, CO, USA

    Robert F. Lowe Jr.

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  1. Justin S. Fulkerson
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Correspondence to Justin S. Fulkerson.

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Fulkerson, J.S., Moore, H.M., Anderson, T.S. et al. Ultrasonography in the preoperative difficult airway assessment. J Clin Monit Comput 31, 513–530 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10877-016-9888-7

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