Circunferencia del cuello como predictor de vía aérea difícil en el paciente obeso sometido a anestesia general, hospitales José Carrasco Arteaga y Vicente Corral Moscoso, Cuenca 2019

Abstract

Background: the difficult airway is prevalent in obese patients, representing one of the main problems for the anesthesiologist; There are multiple methods and factors that determine that a patient will have a difficult airway, however, there is no exact indicator that discriminates between an obese patient who presents this difficulty from those who do not. Research suggests a cervical circumference greater than 40 cm, but no studies have been identified that relate the difficult airway and the size of the cervical circumference in Ecuador. Objective: to determine the relationship between cervical circumference and difficult airway in obese patients under general anesthesia. Methodology: descriptive - observational study in 180 obese patients under general anesthesia at Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga and Vicente Corral Moscoso de Cuenca, selected under inclusion criteria. To classify the participants as obese or not, the WHO classification was used, which considers the body mass index. On the other hand, to determine a difficult airway, the Cormack scale was used. To find the relationship between difficult airway and cervical circumference, the chi-square test was used. Results: the prevalence of difficult airway in obese patients with cervical circumference greater than 40 cm was identified in 27.7%. A dependency relationship was found between cervical circumference and difficult airway. Conclusions: in obese patients, a cervical circumference greater than 40 cm is a potential indicator of a difficult airway.