Tracheal configuration as a radiographic predictor of difficult tracheal intubation in goiters.
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Date
2010
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of the Societies of Anaesthetists of West and East Africa.
Abstract
Goiters producing tracheal deviation or tracheal narrowing (TN) or both may cause difficult tracheal intubation (DTI). We retrospectively studied preoperative cervical radiographs of 160 goiter patients who had thyroidectomy to determine whether these can serve to predict DTI in goiters. Patients’ clinical and surgical data including Anaesthesiologists documented intubation experiences were also evaluated. Statistical analyses were done with SPSS 11.0 for windows. Tracheal diameter in both coronal and sagittal planes ranged between 3mm to 27mm. It was less than 7mm in one or both planes in 21 (13.2%) of patients and all had DTI, P = 0.019. The length of TN did not show significant statistical correlation to DTI, P = 0.791. The only two patients having coronal or sagittal tracheal diameter less than 5mm, had failed intubation. Therefore, goiters producing luminal TN to less than 7mm have potential for DTI and failed intubation when less than 5mm.
Description
Keywords
Goiter,, Difficult intubation,, plain radiograph,, thyroidectomy,, Trachea
Citation
Tracheal configuration as a radiographic predictor of difficult tracheal intubation in goiters. African Journal of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, 10(2): 1-5