Facial Analysis to Classify Difficult Intubation

Recruiting now

Conditions studied: Difficult Intubation

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01612949

Run by

Wake Forest University Health Sciences

People needed

3500

Starts

2012-05-01

Expected to finish

2027-12-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-04-01

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 99. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

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

You may not qualify if…

• 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

Where it is running

• Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center — Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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