Correlation between upper airway ultrasound and Cormack–Lehane grading during laryngoscopy – A prospective study

Background: Securing airway and adequate ventilation after induction of anesthesia is the utmost priority anesthesiologists, failure that can lead to hypoxic brain injury death in a few minutes. Aims Objectives: The aims this study were ascertain role ultrasonography predicting difficult intubation by comparing different ultrasonographic parameters. Materials Methods: One hundred patients posted for elective surgery under general studied. was carried out two phases. first phase – during pre-anesthetic checkup, measurements Anterior neck soft-tissue thickness at level hyoid (ANS-Hyoid), anterior soft tissue vocal cords (ANS-VC), pre-epiglottic space (Pre-E), distance from epiglottis mid-point between (EVL), ratio both (PES/EVL) also done. In second phase, Cormack–Lehane (CL) grade noted intubation. A Chi-square test applied correlate parameters CL grade. Sensitivity, specificity, an area receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, negative predictive value, positive value calculated various Results: among studied parameter, only ANS–VC statistically significant (P<0.0001). ANS-VC >0.32 cm 93.3% sensitive 84.7% specific had Area ROC curve 85% 3 4 (difficult intubation). Conclusion: USG useful tool highly predictor intubation, while other are not indicative