METHODOLOGY: Prospective series of 405 OSA patients (350 males/55 females) who had upper airway surgery. Procedures included functional endoscopic sinus surgery, septoplasty, turbinate reduction, palate/tonsil surgery, and/or tongue base surgery. Intubation difficulty (ID) was assessed using Mallampati grade, Laryngoscopic grade (Cormack and Lehane), and clinical parameters including BMI, neck circumference, thyromental distance, jaw adequacy, neck movements and glidescope grading.
RESULTS: Mean age was 41.6 years old; mean BMI 26.6; mean neck circumference 44.5cm; mean Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) was 25.0; and mean LSAT 82%. The various laryngeal grades (based on Cormack and Lehane), grade 1 - 53 patients (12.9%), grade 2A - 127 patients (31.0%), grade 2B - 125 patients (30.5%), grade 3 - 93 patients (22.7%) and grade 4 - seven patients (1.7%); hence, 24.4% had difficulties in intubation. Parameters that adversely affected intubation were, age of the patient, opening of mouth, retrognathia, overbite, overjet, limited neck extension, thyromental distance, Mallampati grade, and macroglossia (p<0.001). Body mass index (BMI) (p=0.087), neck circumference (p=0.645), neck aches (p=0.728), jaw aches (p=0.417), tonsil size (p=0.048), and AHI (p=0.047) had poor correlation with intubation. BMI-adjusted for Asians and Caucasians, showed that Asians were more likely to have difficulties in intubation (adjusted OR = 4.6 (95%Confidence Interval: 1.05 to 20.06) (p=0.043), compared to the Caucasian group.
CONCLUSION: This study illustrates that difficult intubation can be predicted pre-surgery in order to avert any anaesthetic morbidity.
METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases were searched systematically from inception until January 2020. Our primary outcomes included laryngeal exposure as measured by Cormack-Lehane Grade 1 or 2 (CLG 1/2), CLG 3 or 4 (CLG 3/4), and first attempt success at intubation. Secondary outcomes were intubation time, use of airway adjuncts, ancillary maneuvers and complications during ETI.
RESULTS: Seven studies met our inclusion criteria, of which 4 were RCTs and 3 were cohort studies. The meta-analysis was conducted by pooling the effect estimates for all 4 included RCTs (n=632). There were no differences found between ramping and sniffing positions for odds of CLG 1/2, CLG 3/4, first attempt success at intubation, intubation time, use of ancillary airway maneuvers and use of airway adjuncts, with evidence of high heterogeneity across studies. However, the ramping position in surgical patients is associated with increased likelihood of CLG 1/2 (OR=2.05, 95% CI 1.26 to 3.32, p=0.004) and lower likelihood of CLG 3/4 (OR=0.49, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.79, p=0.004), moderate quality of evidence.
CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis demonstrated that the ramping position may benefit surgical patients undergoing ETI by improving laryngeal exposure. Large-scale well-designed multicentre RCTs should be carried out to further elucidate the benefits of the ramping position in the surgical and intensive care unit patients.
METHODS: A total of 138 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I to III patients were randomly assigned into 2 groups and underwent baseline laryngoscopy in the sniffing position. Group BUHE patients (n = 69) were then intubated in the BUHE position, while group GLSC patients (n = 69) were intubated using GLSC laryngoscopy. Laryngeal exposure was measured using Percentage of Glottic Opening (POGO) score and Cormack-Lehane (CL) grading, and noninferiority will be declared if the difference in mean POGO scores between both groups do not exceed -15% at the lower limit of a 98% confidence interval (CI). Secondary outcomes measured included time required for intubation (TRI), number of intubation attempts, use of airway adjuncts, effort during laryngoscopy, and complications during intubation.
RESULTS: Mean POGO score in group BUHE was 80.14% ± 22.03%, while in group GLSC it was 86.45% ± 18.83%, with a mean difference of -6.3% (98% CI, -13.2% to 0.6%). In both groups, there was a significant improvement in mean POGO scores when compared to baseline laryngoscopy in the sniffing position (group BUHE, 25.8% ± 4.7%; group GLSC, 30.7% ± 6.8%) (P < .0001). The mean TRI was 36.23 ± 14.41 seconds in group BUHE, while group GLSC had a mean TRI of 44.33 ± 11.53 seconds (P < .0001). In patients with baseline CL 3 grading, there was no significant difference between mean POGO scores in both groups (group BUHE, 49.2% ± 19.6% versus group GLSC, 70.5% ± 29.7%; P = .054).
CONCLUSIONS: In the general population, BUHE intubation position provides a noninferior laryngeal view to GLSC intubation. The laryngeal views obtained in both approaches were superior to the laryngeal view obtained in the sniffing position. In view of the many advantages of the BUHE position for intubation, the lack of proven adverse effects, the simplicity, and the cost-effectiveness, we propose that clinicians should consider the BUHE position as the standard intubation position for the general population.