Evaluation of tongue thickness using ultrasound as a predictor of difficult direct laryngoscopy and intubation

Airway management is an essential component of clinical anesthesia and it involves maintenance of a patent airway to facilitate gas exchange via mask ventilation or airway device. An important aspect of airway management is to assess the patient’s airway to predict the likelihood of ease or difficulty with bag mask ventilation or with laryngoscopy and intubation, enabling the anesthesiologist to prepare for this challenging clinical scenario. Unanticipated difficult airways are potentially life threatening and remain a significant concern for clinicians managing the airway. Airway associated complications are the most common anaesthesia related adverse outcomes. Intubation failure is usually attributed to difficult laryngoscopy. There have been no effective methods to predict difficult airway accurately. Hence seeking a more accurate method is necessary for anaesthesia. harm to the body. Ultrasound imaging techniques have recently emerged as a novel, simple, portable, non-invasive tool helpful for pre-operative airway assessment and management. Therefore, this study has been designed to evaluate the predictive value of accurately measured tongue thickness using ultrasonography for predicting difficult laryngoscopy and difficult tracheal intubation.