Comparing airway ultrasound and laryngoscopes in people with obesity

The Effect of Preoperative and Postoperative Airway Ultrasonography and Different Laryngoscope Uses on Intubation Success and Postoperative Complications in Obese Patients

This study tests whether airway ultrasound measurements and different laryngoscopes help predict difficult intubation and improve intubation success in adults with obesity having elective surgery.

Quick facts

• Phase: NA
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 180 (estimated)
• Ages: 18 Years and up
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: Trabzon Kanuni Education and Research Hospital (other)
• Locations: 1 site (Trabzon)
• Trial ID: NCT07482436 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

This single-center study enrolls adults with BMI ≥30 who are having elective surgery under general anesthesia. Investigators will record standard bedside airway markers and perform preoperative airway ultrasonography measurements, then compare intubation using a Macintosh laryngoscope versus two types of videolaryngoscopes. Key outcomes include glottic view (POGO), intubation success, time to intubation, perioperative respiratory complications, and hemodynamic responses. The trial aims to determine whether adding ultrasound improves prediction of difficult airways and whether specific laryngoscopy methods change intubation success and complication rates in obese patients.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Adults (≥18 years) with BMI ≥30, ASA physical status I–III, scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia lasting 60–150 minutes who can give informed consent are eligible.

Not a fit: Patients undergoing head or neck or emergency surgery, those operated in the prone position, uncooperative patients, or those with craniofacial anomalies (and people with BMI <30) are excluded and unlikely to benefit from these findings.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could help anesthesiologists better predict difficult intubation in obese patients and choose the laryngoscope that reduces complications and failed intubations.

How similar studies have performed: Prior studies suggest airway ultrasound can add predictive value for difficult intubation and videolaryngoscopy often improves glottic view, but results vary and benefits specifically in obese populations are not yet definitive.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients who have given their consent
* Patients who underwent surgery under general anesthesia
* Patients over eighteen years of age
* Patients with an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification of I-II-III
* Patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher
* Patients whose surgery lasts between 60 and 150 minutes
* Patients who underwent surgery under elective conditions will be included.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who do not consent,
* those undergoing head and neck surgery,
* those to be operated on in the prone position,
* uncooperative patients (patients with whom communication is not possible),
* those with craniofacial anomalies,
* patients operated on in emergency situations will be excluded from the study.

Where this trial is running

Trabzon

• Trabzon University Faculty of Medicine Kanuni Training and Research Hospital — Trabzon, Turkey (Türkiye) (RECRUITING)

Study contacts

• Study coordinator: Ezgi Günaydın, MD

Conditions: Correlation of Difficult Airway Markers With Ultrasonographic Measurements in Obese Patients, laryngoscopy, difficult airway, obese patients, airway ultrasonography