Abstract

Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: To determine diagnostic accuracy of STOP-BANG questionnaire in predicting difficult mask ventilation in elective surgical patients using a combination of visible chest rise and appearance of capnogram as gold standard.
METHODOLOGY: This prospective observational study was done in Department of Anesthesia, PAF Hospital, Islamabad (affiliated with Fazaia Medical College and Air University) from 15th April 2022 to 15th October 2022. 555 patients undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia of age ranges from 18-80 years were included. Patient with previously diagnosed neuromuscular disease, OSA , Down’s syndrome, facial abnormalities, history of head/neck surgery or radiation to face or neck were excluded from this study. All these patients were asked 8 questions as per STOP-BANG questionnaire to calculate their individual score . Once anesthetic drugs were administered, patients were ventilated. Patients in whom single anesthesiologists was unable to achieve visible chest rise as well as absence of appearance of capnogram were labeled as having difficult mask ventilation.
Results: Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of STOP-BANG questionnaire in predicting difficult mask ventilation was 75.70%, 80.59%, 76.32%, 80.07% and 78.38% respectively.
Conclusion: Diagnostic accuracy of STOP-BANG questionnaire in predicting difficult mask ventilation in elective surgical patients is quite high.

Key words: Difficult mask ventilation, sensitivity, STOP-BANG questionnaire.