Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 12, 2026
04:30
Endotracheal Intubation Using a Flexible Intubation Endoscope as a Standardized Model for Safe Airway Management in Swine
Published on: August 25, 2022
4.4K
Bedside predictors of difficult intubation: a systematic review
Andrea Vannucci1, Laura F Cavallone
1Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA - vannucca@wustl.edu.
Minerva Anestesiologica
|May 21, 2015
Summary
Predicting difficult tracheal intubation is crucial for patient safety. However, current bedside airway tests show limited accuracy and consistency in identifying patients with difficult airways.
Area of Science:
- Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine
- Airway Management Research
- Clinical Prediction Models
Background:
- Unanticipated difficult intubation leads to adverse patient outcomes.
- Predicting difficult airways enhances patient safety and resource allocation.
- This study reviews bedside tests for predicting difficult tracheal intubation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the performance of bedside airway tests in predicting difficult tracheal intubation.
- To synthesize current literature on the diagnostic accuracy of these tests.
- To identify reliable criteria for difficult airway prediction.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature review of prospective studies (2004-2014).
- Included adult populations (≥100 subjects) with defined difficult intubation criteria.
- Searched Medline and EMBASE for relevant keywords; assessed risk of bias using QUADAS-2.
Main Results:
- Included 24 studies with 20,582 patients.
- Evaluated common tests: Mallampati Score, thyro-mental distance, upper lip bite test, etc.
- Individual and combined tests demonstrated limited discriminative capacity, sensitivity, and specificity.
Conclusions:
- Current bedside tests have insufficient and inconsistent ability to predict difficult airways.
- Many included studies had high risk of bias and applicability concerns.
- Reliable bedside criteria for predicting difficult intubation are still needed.
