ArticleBMC anesthesiology2020
Ultrasound measurement of laryngeal structures in the parasagittal plane for the prediction of difficult laryngoscopies in Chinese adults.
Article in BMC anesthesiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Point-of-care ultrasound of the upper airway in difficult airway management: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Anaesthesia · 2025Pooled it
- Evaluation of preoperative difficult airway prediction methods for adult patients without obvious airway abnormalities: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC anesthesiology · 2024Pooled it
- Airway Ultrasound: Applications in Pediatric Anesthesiology and Critical Care.Journal of clinical medicine research · 2026Review
- Anatomical level-dependent variation in ultrasonographic skin-to-epiglottis depth and its diagnostic performance for difficult laryngoscopy: A prospective observational study.Indian journal of anaesthesia · 2026Article
- Preoperative airway ultrasonography for predicting difficult intubation in adult female patients: a prospective observational study.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Observational
- Comparison between El-Ganzouri risk index and sonologically measured skin-to-epiglottis distance for predicting difficult laryngoscopy: A prospective observational study.Indian journal of anaesthesia · 2025Article
- A new score for airway assessment using clinical and ultrasound parameters.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Accuracy of Sonographic Airway Parameters in Difficult Laryngoscopy Prediction: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study from Central India.Turkish journal of anaesthesiology and reanimation · 2023Article
- Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Airway Evaluation and Management: A Comprehensive Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Preoperative Investigations: Practice Guidelines from the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists.Indian journal of anaesthesia · 2022Article
- Nomograms for predicting difficult airway based on ultrasound assessment.BMC anesthesiology · 2022Observational
- Comparative Study of Clinical and Ultrasound Parameters for Defining a Difficult Airway in Patients with Obesity.Obesity surgery · 2021Observational
- [Highlights 57th SEPAR Congress].Open respiratory archivesReview
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAbnormal laryngeal structures are likely to be associated with a difficult laryngoscopy procedure. Currently, laryngeal structures can be measured by ultrasonography, however, little research has been performed on the potential role of ultrasound on the evaluation of a difficult laryngoscopy. The present study investigated the value of laryngeal structure measurements for predicting a difficult laryngoscopy.
objectiveThe main objective of this study was to explore the value of laryngeal structure measurements for predicting a difficult laryngoscopy.
methodsTwo hundred and eleven adult patients (over 18 years old) were recruited to undergo elective surgery under general anesthesia via endotracheal intubation. Ultrasound was utilized to measure the distance between the skin and thyroid cartilage (DST), the distance between the thyroid cartilage and epiglottis (DTE), and the distance between the skin and epiglottis (DSE) in the parasagittal plane. These metrics were then investigated as predictors for classifying a laryngoscopy as difficult vs easy, as defined by the Cormack and Lehane grading scale.
resultsMultivariate logistic regression showed that the DSE, but not DST or DTE, was significantly related to difficult laryngoscopies. Specifically, a DSE ≥ 2.36 cm predicted difficult laryngoscopies with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.818 (95% CI: 0.766-0.870) and 0.856 (95% CI: 0.809-0.904). Furthermore, when combining the best model constructed of other indicators (i.e. sex, body mass index, modified Mallampati test) to predict the difficult laryngoscopy, the AUC reached 93.28%.
conclusionDSE is an independent predictor of a difficult laryngoscopy; a DSE cutoff value of 2.36 cm is a better predictor of a difficult laryngoscope than other ultrasound or physiological measurements for predicting a difficult laryngoscope. Nevertheless, it's more valuable to apply the best model of this study, composed of various physiological measurements, for this prediction purpose.
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