Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2025

Image Acquisition using Portable Sonography for Emergency Airway Management
Published on: September 28, 2022
Evaluation of MACOCHA Score for Predicting Difficult Intubation in Critically Ill Cancer Patients: A Prospective
Atul P Kulkarni1, Shilpushp J Bhosale1, Kushal R Kalvit2
1Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care Medicine, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India; Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Introduction:
Tracheal intubation (TI) is often needed in the intensive care unit (ICU) but can have disastrous consequences. The MACOCHA score was developed for prediction of difficult intubation (DI) in critically ill.
Material And Methods:
After Institutional Ethics Committee approval, we conducted this prospective, single-center observational study. Evaluated the ability of MACOCHA score to predict difficult intubation in our ICU. We included 500 adults undergoing TI in our ICU. We collected the demographic data, details of ICU admission, and intubation-related data for calculating MACOCHA score. We used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 21) for analysis. The accuracy of MACOCHA score for predicting DI was determined by area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit statistics was used to determine calibration.
Results:
Since complete dataset was available for 449/500 patients, we analyzed their data. Acute renal failure and shock were the most frequent reasons for TI. Ketamine and rocuronium were most commonly used drugs for TI. The incidence of DI was 13.5% (60/449). There were 30 patients whose Mallampati score was either III and IV, while 84 and 45 patients had severe hypoxemia and coma before TI, respectively. The AUROC curve for the MACOCHA score was 0.659 (confidence interval, 0.574-0.743), suggesting a moderate discrimination. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test showed moderate calibration (χ2 = 3.142, with p = 0.208). One hundred and seventy-one (26.5%) complications occurred in the entire cohort. Some patients had multiple complications.
Conclusion:
The MACOCHA score showed moderate discrimination and calibration in predicting DI in our study.
How To Cite This Article:
Kulkarni AP, Bhosale SJ, Kalvit KR, Cherian S, Shrivastava AM, Gorade MR. Evaluation of MACOCHA Score for predicting Difficult Intubation in Critically Ill Cancer Patients: A Prospective Observational Study. Indian J Crit Care Med 2025;29(3):208-214.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Endotracheal Intubation I: Procedure
The ET tube comprises various components, including a standard adaptor to attach a bag-valve-mask (BVM) or ventilator, a cuff, a pilot balloon, and radiopaque markings along its length to measure the insertion distance. The tube sizes...
Endotracheal Intubation II: Nursing Management
1. Nursing Care of Patients Before Intubation
Before the endotracheal intubation procedure, nurses play an essential role in ensuring the process goes smoothly. The nurses must be familiar with intubation...
Endotracheal Tube Extubation
Procedure
Extubation removes the endotracheal tube (ETT) from the patient on mechanical ventilation. It requires a well-coordinated, multidisciplinary approach involving physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and other healthcare professionals....
Assessment of Airway, Skin Color, and Use of Accessory Muscles
Introduction
The initial evaluation of a patient's respiratory system...

