Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34391000›Full record

ArticleComputers in biology and medicine2021

Identification of difficult to intubate patients from frontal face images using an ensemble of deep learning models.

Thomas E Tavolara, Metin N Gurcan, Scott Segal, M K K Niazi

2 registry-linked trialsOpen access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Computers in biology and medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 27 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
10.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT01612949 recruitingnot on this map

Comparison of a Computerized Image Analysis to Conventional Airway Examination Techniques to Predict Difficult Endotracheal Intubation

TypeobservationalSponsorWake Forest University Health SciencesRan2012 to 2027Enrolled3,500ConditionsDifficult IntubationArmsphotographing head and neck
NCT07700485 active not recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

Multimodal Artificial Intelligence for Image-Based Prediction of Difficult Airway: A Prospective Observational Study

Typeobservational_patient_registrySponsorMemorial Atasehir HospitalRan2026 to 2026Enrolled319ConditionsDifficult Intubation, Difficult Laryngoscopy
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Observational
  6. Observational
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Artificial intelligence in anesthesiology: a bibliometric analysis.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2024
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Difficult Airway Assessment Based on Multi-View Metric Learning.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Scope of artificial intelligence in airway management.Indian journal of anaesthesia · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Thomas E TavolaraCenter for Biomedical Informatics, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. Electronic address: ttavolar@wakehealth.edu.
Metin N GurcanCenter for Biomedical Informatics, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Scott SegalDept. of Anesthesiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
M K K NiaziCenter for Biomedical Informatics, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Wake Forest University · US

Funding

Development of quantitative tools to predict patients with difficult intubation to minimize treatment related complicationsR21EB029493 · NIBIB · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI NIAZI, MUHAMMAD KHALID KHAN, SEGAL, SCOTT · 2021 to 2023
$620k
NIBIB NIH HHS R21 EB029493
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Failure to identify difficult intubation is the leading cause of anesthesia-related death and morbidity. Despite preoperative airway assessment, 75-93% of difficult intubations are unanticipated, and airway examination methods underperform, with sensitivities of 20-62% and specificities of 82-97%. To overcome these impediments, we aim to develop a deep learning model to identify difficult to intubate patients using frontal face images. We proposed an ensemble of convolutional neural networks which leverages a database of celebrity facial images to learn robust features of multiple face regions. This ensemble extracts features from patient images (n = 152) which are subsequently classified by a respective ensemble of attention-based multiple instance learning models. Through majority voting, a patient is classified as difficult or easy to intubate. Whereas two conventional bedside tests resulted in AUCs of 0.6042 and 0.4661, the proposed method resulted in an AUC of 0.7105 using a cohort of 76 difficult and 76 easy to intubate patients. Generic features yielded AUCs of 0.4654-0.6278. The proposed model can operate at high sensitivity and low specificity (0.9079 and 0.4474) or low sensitivity and high specificity (0.3684 and 0.9605). The proposed ensembled model outperforms conventional bedside tests and generic features. Side facial images may improve the performance of the proposed model. The proposed method significantly surpasses conventional bedside tests and deep learning methods. We expect our model will play an important role in developing deep learning methods where frontal face features play an important role.

Indexed as

Deep LearningDatabases, FactualFaceHumansNeural Networks, ComputerAirway managementDeep learningEndotracheal intubationImage analysisMachine learning

Identifiers

PMID34391000
PMCPMC8440461
OpenAlexW3190745096

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.