Accuracy of Age-Based Formula to Predict the Size and Depth of Cuffed Oral Preformed Endotracheal Tubes in Children Undergoing Tonsillectomy.

Objectives: To retrospectively investigate the reliability of the age-based formula, in predicting size and in predicting insertion depth of preformed endotracheal tubes in children and correlate these data with the body mass index.

Patients And Methods: Patients were classified into 4 groups according to their nutritional status: thinness, normal weight, overweight, and obesity; we then retrospectively compared the actual size of endotracheal tube and insertion depth to the predicting age-based formula and to the respective bend-to-tip distance of the used preformed tubes.

Results: Altogether, 300 patients were included. The actual endotracheal tube size corresponded with the Motoyama formula (64.7%, 90% CI: 60.0-69.1), except for thin patients, where the calculated size was too large (0.5 mm). The insertion depth could be predicted within the range of the bend-to-tip distance and age-based formula in 85.0% (90% CI: 81.3-88.0) of patients.

Conclusion: Prediction of the size of cuffed preformed endotracheal tubes using the formula of Motoyama was accurate in most patients, except in thin patients (body mass index < -2 SD). The insertion depth of the tubes was mostly in the range of the age-based-formula to the bend-to-tip distance.