Ann Afr Med. 2026 Jun 5. doi: 10.4103/aam.aam_309_26. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Different formulas are being used to determine the internal diameter (ID) of the cuffed endotracheal (ET) tube in pediatric patients. Recently, a new formula was proposed to predict the ET tube size based on middle finger length (MFL). The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of this new formula in predicting the cuffed ET tube and to compare it with other commonly used formulas.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This comparative observational study was carried out among 120 samples of children up to 12 years of age undergoing surgery under general anesthesia after taking their consent. All the details regarding the patient’s age, height, weight, and MFL were collected a day before surgery and the ET tube details and the predicted ET tube size by the five formulae were collected on the day of surgery. They were entered into Microsoft Excel sheet and analyzed using STATA software version 17.
RESULTS: Out of 120 study participants, the fraction of patients in whom the exact ID of cuffed ET tube was correctly predicted with the MFL, age-based formulas (ABFs), height-based formula (HBF), weight-based formula (WBF), and Multivariate prediction tool (MPT) formula were 20%, 18.3%, 0%, 3.3%, and 0.8%, respectively. The predicted ID size within 0.5 mm difference excluding the exact fit for MFL formula, ABF, HBF, WBF, and MPT formula was 20.8%, 57.5%, 12.5%, 30.8%, and 22.5%, respectively. The predicted ID size potentially too big >0.5 mm difference for MFL formula, ABF, HBF, WBF, and MPT formulas were 59.2%, 24.2%, 87.5%, 65.8%, and 76.7%, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient for all the formulas was r > 0.80 and shows a strong positive correlation which was statistically significant (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: ABFs were more accurate compared to other formulae in predicting the ET tube size in case of pediatric patients, but in children less than 5 years of age, MFL formula was a better predictor than other formulas.
PMID:42252986 | DOI:10.4103/aam.aam_309_26
