Home › NCT01612949

Facial Analysis to Classify Difficult Intubation

Comparison of a Computerized Image Analysis to Conventional Airway Examination Techniques to Predict Difficult Endotracheal Intubation

Who can join

Ages 18 to 99 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients requiring endotracheal intubation
* Patients consenting to acquisition of photographic images of the head and neck

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients who had undergone head or neck surgery
* Patients in whom central venous catheters or other interventions that prevent full view of the features of the face in frontal and profile views
* Patients who were neither easy nor difficult to intubate by our criteria

About the study

The aim of this project is to develop a computer algorithm that can accurately predict how easy or difficult it is to intubate a patient based upon digital photographs from three different perspectives. Such an application can provide a consistent, quantitative measure of intubation difficulty by analyzing facial features in captured photographs - features which have previously been shown to correlate with how easy or how hard it would be to perform the intubation procedure. This is in contrast to established subjective protocols that also serve to predict intubation difficulty, albeit with lower accuracy. A digital application has the potential to decrease potential complications related to intubation difficulty and increase patient safety.

What is being tested

• photographing head and neck (other)

Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences · Participants: 3,500 · Started: 2012-05

Contact the study team

• Scott Segal, MD, MHCM · Phone: (336) 716-7084
• Angela Goodson · Phone: 336-716-4497

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT01612949

Locations in the U.S.

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.