• Cristina Petrisor, Robert Szabo, Catalin Constantinescu, Adrian Prie, and Natalia Hagau.
• "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, Romania; The Clinical Emergency County Hospital Cluj, Romania. petrisor.cristina@umfcluj.ro.
• Anaesthesiol Intensive Ther. 2018 Jan 1; 50 (2): 110-116.

BackgroundUltrasonography-assessed hyomental distance (HMD) ratio has been found to discriminate between obese patients with Cormack-Lehane grades 1 or 2 vs. those with grades 3 or 4. The aim of our study is to evaluate the performance of the HMD evaluated ultrasonographically in neutral, ramped, and maximum hyperextended positions, as well as for the ratios obtained by dividing the HMD in the ramped position to that in the neutral position (HMDR1) and by dividing the HMD in maximum hyperextension to that in the neutral position (HMDR2), in order to predict the occurrence of Cormack-Lehane grades 3 or 4 during direct laryngoscopy.MethodsUltrasound measurements were performed preoperatively in 25 patients with morbid obesity, measuring the HMD in the neutral, ramped, and maximum hyperextended positions. Pre-epyglotic soft tissue thickness, Mallampati and upper lip bite test scores were recorded. Cormack-Lehane grading was considered as an outcome variable in the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve analysis.ResultsHMD in the neutral, ramped and maximum hyperextended positions presented similar sensitivities, 100% [39.8-100.0]. For HMD, specificity was 42.86% [21.8-66.0] in the neutral position, 61.9% [38.4-81.9] in the ramped postion, and 71.4% [47.8-88.7] in the maximum hyperextended position. For HMDR1, the cut-off value was 1.12. This threshold provides 75% [19.4-99.4] sensitivity and 76.2% [52.8-91.8] specificity. For HMDR2, a cut-off value of 1.23 provides 100% [39.8-100.0] sensitivity and 90.5% [69.6-98.8] specificity.ConclusionHMDR2 seems to have superior diagnostic accuracy in predicting difficult laryngoscopy in the obese population compared to HMDR1, as well as compared to the HMD in the neutral, ramped, and maximum hyperextended positions.

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