[The clinical usefulness of predicting difficult endotracheal intubation]

We conducted several tests for predicting the difficult intubation airway in 476 patients excluding those with neck disease and anatomical abnormalities. The evaluation was performed using four methods. 1. The size of the tongue in relation to the oral cavity (Mallampani test: M-T). 2. The hyomental distance (H-D). 3. The thyromental distance (T-D). 4. The atranto-occipital joint extension (AOJE). Of these four methods, M-T was the best predictor of a difficult airway. However, all of these four methods may be good predictors, employing modified criteria which include M-T = class 2, 3, 4, H-D = less than 3.0 cm, T-D = less than 6.0 cm, and AOJE = less than 35 degrees.