Title

Ultrasound-guided evaluation of airway difficulty in morbid obesity: Comparative predictive parameters

Authors

Anoop Raveendran Nair¹*, Ahmed Eltohamy² & Nithya Krishnakumar²

Affiliation

¹Department of Anaesthesia, Pilgrim Hospital, UK; ²Department of ENT, Kings Mill Hospital, UK; *Corresponding author

Email

Anoop Raveendran Nair - E-mail: anoopanaesthesia@gmail.com
Ahmed Eltohamy - E-mail: Ahmed.eltohamy@nhs.net
Nithya Krishnakumar - E-mail: nithyak101@gmail.com

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received August 1, 2025; Revised August 31, 2025; Accepted August 31, 2025, Published August 31, 2025

Abstract

Ultrasound assessment of anterior neck soft tissue thickness is a promising tool for predicting difficult laryngoscopy, particularly in obese patients. Hence, we evaluated 40 obese individuals (BMI > 35) undergoing elective surgery, comparing ultrasonographic measurements at the hyoid bone (DSHB), thyrohyoid membrane (DSEM), and anterior commissure (DSAC) with conventional airway predictors. Difficult laryngoscopy, defined as Cormack–Lehane grade III–IV, was significantly associated with increased mean values of DSHB (p < 0.0001), DSEM (p< 0.0001) and DSAC (p< 0.002) respectively. Among conventional predictors, only the Modified Mallampati Score showed a significant correlation (p < 0.017). Ultrasonography of anterior neck soft tissues appears to be a reliable and independent predictor, potentially improving preoperative airway assessment in obese patients when combined with standard methods.

Keywords

Ultrasound, laryngoscopy, airway assessment and obesity

Citation

Nair et al. Bioinformation 21(8): 2537-2542 (2025)

Edited by

Akshaya Ojha

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.