A Comparative Overview of Upper Lip Bite Test and Modified Mallampati Test: Approach to Predict Difficult Intubation

Abstract

The present study aims to ascertain whether Upper lip bite examination (ULBT) can be incorporated in standard protocol of airway assessment along with other tests to increase predictive accuracy of difficult endotracheal intubation. The study was a single centre prospective randomised single blind comparative observational study which was carried out in Dr. D Y Patil medical college Kolhapur in period July 16-July17. In this study, we have achieved uniformity by conducting all tests by primary investigator and doing all laryngoscopies by senior resident so as to avoid inter-observer variation. Objective of our study was to compare modified Marampati test (MMT) and ULBT with regard to accuracy, PPV, NPV, specificity and sensitivity against laryngoscopic visualization by using gold standard CL grading. As both the tests were assessed by primary investigator it has reduced the risk of inter-observer variation to significant extent and this is the main strength of our study.