End-tidal capnography and upper airway ultrasonography in the rapid confirmation of endotracheal tube placement in patients requiring intubation for general anaesthesia

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Confirmation of correct endotracheal tube placement is essential immediately after intubation for general anaesthesia. In this study, we have compared upper airway ultrasonography (USG) with reference to capnography for rapid confirmation of endotracheal tube placement after general anaesthesia. METHODS: A prospective, single centre, observational study was conducted on 100 patients requiring tracheal intubation for general anaesthesia. Both capnography and upper airway USG were performed immediately after intubation to confirm the endotracheal tube (ETT) placement. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of upper airway USG were determined against capnography as the reference method. Agreement between the methods and time required to determine ETT placement by the two methods were assessed with kappa statistics and Student's t-test. RESULTS: Upper airway USG detected all five cases of oesophageal intubation, but could not detect five patients with correct tracheal intubation. Upper airway USG had a sensitivity of 96.84% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 94.25%–96.84%), specificity of 100% (95% CI: 50.6%–100%), positive predictive value of 100% (95% CI: 97.3%–100%) and negative predictive value of 62.5% (95% CI: 31.6%–62.5%). Kappa value was found to be 0.76, indicating a good agreement between upper airway USG and capnography for confirmation of ETT placement. Time taken for confirmation of ETT by capnography was 8.989 ± 1.043 s vs. 12.0 ± 1.318 s for upper airway USG (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Both capnography and upper airway USG may be used as primary procedures for the confirmation of ETT placement.