Difficult or impossible facemask ventilation in children with difficult tracheal intubation: a retrospective analysis of the PeDI registry

Annery G. Garcia-Marcinkiewicz, Lisa K. Lee, Bishr Haydar, John E. Fiadjoe, Clyde T. Matava, Pete G. Kovatsis, James Peyton, Mary L. Stein, Raymond Park, Brad M. Taicher, Thomas W. Templeton, Benjamin B. Bruins, Paul Stricker, Elizabeth K. Laverriere, Justin L. Lockman, Brian Struyk, Christopher Ward, Akira Nishisaki, Ramesh Kodavatiganti, Rodrigo J. Daly GurisLuis Sequera-Ramos, Mark S. Teen, Ayodele Oke, Grace Hsu, Arul Lingappan, Chinyere Egbuta, Stephen Flynn, Lina Sarmiento, Tally Goldfarb, Edgar E. Kiss, Patrick N. Olomu, Peter Szmuk, Sam Mireles, Andrea Murray, Simon Whyte, Ranu Jain, Maria Matuszczak, Agnes Hunyady, Adrian Bosenberg, See Tham, Daniel Low, Christopher Holmes, Stefan Sabato, Nicholas Dalesio, Robert Greenberg, Angela Lucero, Paul Reynolds, Ian Lewis, Charles Schrock, Sydney Nykiel-Bailey, Elizabeth Starker, Judit Szolnoki, Melissa Brooks-Peterson, Somaletha Bhattacharya, Nicholas E. Burjek, Narasimhan Jagannathan, David Lardner, Scott Watkins, Christy Crockett, John Moore, Sara Robertson, Madhankumar Sathyamoorthy, Franklin Chiao, Jasmine Patel, Aarti Sharma, Piedad Echeverry Marin, Carolina Pérez-Pradilla, Neeta Singh, Britta S. von Ungern-Sternberg, David Sommerfield, Guelay Bilen-Rosas, Hilana Lewkowitz-Shpuntoff, Pilar Castro, N. Ricardo Riveros Perez, Jurgen C. de Graaff, Eduardo Vega, Alejandro González, Paola Ostermann, Kasia Rubin, Charles (Ted) Lord, Angela Lee, Eugenie Heitmiller, Songyos Valairucha, Priti Dalal, Thanh Tran, Ihab Ayad, Mohamed Rehman, Allison Fernandez, Lillian Zamora, Niroop Ravula, Sadiq Shaik

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8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Difficult facemask ventilation is perilous in children whose tracheas are difficult to intubate. We hypothesised that certain physical characteristics and anaesthetic factors are associated with difficult mask ventilation in paediatric patients who also had difficult tracheal intubation. Methods: We queried a multicentre registry for children who experienced “difficult” or “impossible” facemask ventilation. Patient and case factors known before mask ventilation attempt were included for consideration in this regularised multivariable regression analysis. Incidence of complications, and frequency and efficacy of rescue placement of a supraglottic airway device were also tabulated. Changes in quality of mask ventilation after injection of a neuromuscular blocking agent were assessed. Results: The incidence of difficult mask ventilation was 9% (483 of 5453 patients). Infants and patients having increased weight, being less than 5th percentile in weight for age, or having Treacher-Collins syndrome, glossoptosis, or limited mouth opening were more likely to have difficult mask ventilation. Anaesthetic induction using facemask and opioids was associated with decreased risk of difficult mask ventilation. The incidence of complications was significantly higher in patients with “difficult” mask ventilation than in patients without. Rescue placement of a supraglottic airway improved ventilation in 71% (96 of 135) of cases. Administration of neuromuscular blocking agents was more frequently associated with improvement or no change in quality of ventilation than with worsening. Conclusions: Certain abnormalities on physical examination should increase suspicion of possible difficult facemask ventilation. Rescue use of a supraglottic airway device in children with difficult or impossible mask ventilation should be strongly considered.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)178-187
Number of pages10
JournalBritish Journal of Anaesthesia
Volume131
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2023

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine

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