Ultrasound Airway Assessment of Critically Ill Preeclamptic; Comparison Between Two Technique

Ain Shams University

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Pre-Eclampsia; Critical Illness; Difficult; Intubation, Postpartum, During Puerperium

Treatments: Diagnostic Test: techniques of ultrasound examination of the airway

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06651879

FMASU R147/2024

Details and patient eligibility

About

Unexpected difficult airway exposes the patient to serious morbidity and even mortality. The changes in pregnancy and preeclampsia increase the risk of difficult intubation. Proper anticipation affects the outcome and enhances safety, especially in critically ill patients. This research aims to assess the superiority of either 2 views or 5 views ultrasound assessment in predictivity of difficult airway (difficult ventilation, laryngoscopy, and intubation) and their comparison to traditional clinical examination by El-Ganzouri Risk Index (EGRI) in critically ill obstetric patients with pre-eclampsia.

Full description

Unexpected difficult airway exposes the patient to serious morbidity and even mortality. Obstetrics airway carries the risk of complications due to physiological changes. The airway shows more restriction and changes in preeclamptic patients and peripartum periods. A study reported one incidence of difficult intubation in obstetrics in 20 cases. Inadequate airway management leads to failure in ventilation and oxygenation of the critically ill mother and her fetus.

the Practice Guidelines for Management of the Difficult Airway by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) define the difficult airway as difficult facemask ventilation of the upper airway, difficult tracheal intubation, or both. preoperative assessment of the airway avoids that risk; however, current clinical screening tests have low sensitivity and specificity with limited predictivity.

Ultrasound (US) provides a more precise assessment for tissues like epiglottis, vocal cords, and ring-shaped membranes; thus, it facilitates a bedside, non-invasive objective airway assessment. Moreover, ultrasound assessment can plan and guide airway interventions if needed. The airway in pregnancy goes through changes. a study concluded that The US airway assessment parameters differ significantly between pregnant and non-pregnant patients. Previous studies reported that the best predictors of difficult laryngoscopy and/or difficult intubation were the epiglottis midline-skin distance, hyoid bone-to-skin distance, thyroid cartilage-to-skin distance, thyrohyoid membrane-to-skin distance, and vocal cord anterior commissure-skin distance also predicted difficult airway. In Pregnancy, hyoid bone visibility, and Pre-E/E-VC ratio were independent predictors of the difficult airway.

Researchers suggested different techniques for airway ultrasound. Some suggested detailed technique that allows the determination of multiple parameters. Others suggested a more concise protocol to lessen the time of assessment and to avoid complexity.

This trial assesses the superiority of either 2 views or 5 views ultrasound assessment in predictivity of difficult airway (difficult ventilation, laryngoscopy, and intubation) and their comparison to traditional clinical examination by El-Ganzouri index (GREI) (9) in critically ill obstetric patients with pre-eclampsia.

Enrollment: 50 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:Critically ill preeclamptic patients for caesarean section under general anesthesia with the following criteria:

• Aged from 18 to 60 years.
• Singleton or multiple pregnancies,
• Mentally competent.
• American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I, II and III

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient's Refusal to participate,
• Abnormal pharynx or airway anatomy,
• expected difficult laryngoscopy with cervical spine abnormality,
• Maxillofacial anomalies,
• upper airway diseases or malignancy,
• Unconscious women,
• those with learning difficulties, or mentally handicapped

Trial design

Primary purpose: Diagnostic

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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50 participants in 2 patient groups

Two views ultrasound technique

Experimental group

Description:

: the ultrasound examiner will use the difficult airway examination by sonography (DARES) protocol in which involves only two views of the upper airway: the thyrohyoid and the suprahyoid views. Measurements selected for this protocol include the DSE, HMD, HMDR1, HMDR2, and tongue thickness, which cover all three domains of TTD, APD, and OSD

Treatment:

Diagnostic Test: techniques of ultrasound examination of the airway

Five views ultrasound technique

Active Comparator group

Description:

The thicknesses of the anterior neck soft tissues will be measured by systematic examination includes five views: 1) Suprahyoid View .2) Thyrohyoid view; will be used to visualize epiglottis and pre -epiglottic space(PES).3) Thyroid view; for vocal cord visualization.4) Cricothyroid view .5) Suprasternal view From the previous views the following will be measured: tongue volume (TV ) ANS-H: anterior neck skin thickness at hyoid; TMD: thyromental distance; ANS-E: anterior neck skin thickness at epiglottis; ANS-VC: anterior neck skin thickness at vocal cords; SD: subglottic diameter PreE: pre epiglottic space; aVF: anterior vocal folds; pVF: posterior vocal folds; mVF: midpoint of anterior , posterior vocal folds , and diameter of the transverse tracheal air shadow in the subglottic area . The following will be calculated PreE/aVF, PreE/mVF , PreE/pVF and PreE/E-VC. That will be in addition to detection of any abnormalities in the airway

Treatment:

Diagnostic Test: techniques of ultrasound examination of the airway