Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0665
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2161-0665
+44 1478 350008
Nosheela
Accepted Abstracts-2011: Pediatr Therapeut
Introduction: Several clinical criteria are being routinely used in adults, in order to identify patients with a diffi cult airway. Th is is essential in planning anesthetic management and endotracheal intubation. Several anatomical airway diff erences exist between adults and children. Th ere is very scant literature available which relates to pre-operative airway assessment in pediatrics and its relationship to diffi cult intubation 1,2 . Objective: ? To assess the following variables i.e., age, gender, body mass index(BMI) and body weight, Mallampati classifi cation and thyromental distance in two groups of pediatric patients (pre-school; less than 5years and school going; more than 5years) pre-operatively and correlate these to the diff erent grades of Cormack and Lehane classifi cation observed at the time of laryngoscopy. ? Evaluate the relationship between distance from nares to tragus with the diff erent grades of Cormack and Lehane classifi cation. Material and method : Th is quasi experimental study was performed at Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, aft er approval from the ethical committee. One hundred and ninety six pediatric patients, age range between infant to eight years and ASA I and ASA II grade undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia with planned endotracheal intubation were included. Demographic and clinical measurements like age, sex, weight (kg), Body Mass Index (BMI), distance between tragus to nares (cm), Mallampati grades and thyromental distance (cm) were noted. Relationship of these variables with Cormack and Lehane grading at the time of laryngoscopy was recorded. All tracheal intubations were done by one auther. Results : Cormack and Lehane grades 2 and 3 was observed in 22% of children < 5 years as compared to 02% of children . 5 years (p<0.001). In children <5 years increasing grade (2&3) of Cormack and Lehane classifi cation was seen with decreasing tragus to nares distance (p<0.002) but this trend was not observed in older children. A similar trend was observed with thyromental distance in children <5 years (p 0.025) and >5 years (p 0.02). Th ere was no signifi cant relationship seen for Cormack and Lehane classifi cation with respect to gender and body mass index (BMI) and distance between tragus to nares for children 5 years and above. Conclusion: We concluded thyromental distance (Tm), distance between tragus to nares (Tn) can be helpful for assessment of diffi cult airway in pediatric patients younger than 5years of age. Further studies required on larger sample size.