Predictive value of maxillopharyngeal angle to other multivariate airway assessment tests for difficult intubation in patients undergoing general anesthesia in Iranian population

Background: Differences in patient characteristics due to race or ethnicity may influence the incidence of difficult airway. Unexpected difficulties in endotracheal intubation can be a significant etiologic factor in morbidity and mortality in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of maxillopharyngeal angle (MPA) to predict difficult airway. Methods: In this prospective, single, observational and anthropometrical study, we collected data on 213 consecutive patients scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia requiring endotracheal intubation and then evaluated all for factors before surgery. Results: In this study, 213 patients (119 males and 94 females) with mean age of 44.319 +/- 13.52 (25 to 70) years were investigated. Based on Cormack and Lehane (C&L) grading, the highest sensitivity and specificity were 51.9% and 48.1% for 98.25, respectively. According to Mallampati test (MMT), the highest sensitivity and specificity were 49.6% and 50.4% for 98.25, respectively. The high positive predictive value was observed in MPA based on C&L and MMT grading (92.98 and 71.92, respectively). Conclusion: Based on the findings, of present study, the PPV was great for MPA test to predict the difficult airway and it was noticed to use this test to predict the airway difficulty along with established methods to in patient undergoing general anesthesia.