Utility of ultrasonography in preanaesthetic airway assessment

Abstract

Background: Better airway management during induction of anaesthesia can be predicted by systems like Cormack-Lehane (CL) grade. Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the utility of ultrasonography in preanaesthetic airway assessment. Materials and Methods: Ultrasound measurements of the anterior neck soft tissue thickness at the level of the hyoid (ANS-Hyoid), anterior neck soft tissue thickness at the level of the vocal cords (ANS-VC) and ratio of the depth of the pre-epiglottic space (Pre-E) to the distance from the epiglottis to the mid-point of the distance between the vocal cords (E-VC) were obtained in 80 patients. CL grade was noted during intubation. Results: Chi-square test was used to find if there was any statistical difference in the measurements of patients with different CL grades. Difficult intubation was seen in 14%. An ANS-VC >0.23 cm had a sensitivity of 85.7% in predicting a CL Grade of 3 or 4, which was higher than that of MP class, TMD and SMD. Conclusion: Ultrasound is a useful tool in airway assessment