title: Incidence of and risk factors for difficult ventilation via a supraglottic airway device in a population of 14,480 patients from South-East Asia.
abstract: Difficult airway practice guidelines include the use of a supraglottic airway device as part of the armamentarium to provide and maintain ventilation and oxygenation. We retrospectively reviewed 14 480 patients aged ≥ 18 years who underwent general anaesthesia. We identified 74 (0.5%) patients whose lungs were identified as having been difficult to ventilate via a supraglottic airway device, and 29 (0.2%) patients in whom device placement failed. Multivariate analysis identified four risk factors for difficult ventilation via a supraglottic airway device: male sex (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.07-2.86, p = 0.02); age > 45 years (OR 1.70, 95% CI 1.01-2.86, p = 0.04); short thyromental distance (OR 4.35, 95% CI 2.31-8.17, p < 0.001); and limited neck movement (OR 2.75, 95% CI 1.02-7.44, p = 0.04). Adverse respiratory events including oxygen desaturation, hypercapnoea, laryngospasm, and bronchospasm occurred in 17 patients (22%). The incidence of difficult ventilation via a supraglottic airway device was 0.5% in a large cohort of South-East Asian patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: S T H
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chew
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, National University Health System, Singapore.
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Ti
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D001210:Asia, Southeastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors