ISSN (print) 1726-9806     ISSN (online) 1818-474X
No. 1 (2025), DIAGNOSIS OF DIFFICULT AIRWAYS
No. 1 (2025)
DIAGNOSIS OF DIFFICULT AIRWAYS

The role of artificial intelligence for difficult airways prediction in adults: a narrative review

Published 31.01.2025
Andrey Yu. Zaitsev
Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery, Moscow, Russia; Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9425-202X
A.B. Sorokin
MIREA - Russian Technological University (RTU MIREA), Moscow, Russia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7230-6266
Yu.A. Zaytsev
MIREA - Russian Technological University (RTU MIREA), Moscow, Russia
https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9597-8741
K.V. Dubrovin
Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery, Moscow, Russia; Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4677-0508
E.G. Usikyan
Petrovsky National Research Centre of Surgery, Moscow, Russia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2158-1284
PDF_2025-1-110-122 (Russian)

Keywords

intubation
artificial intelligence
neural network
machine learning
anesthesiology

How to Cite

Zaitsev A.Y., Sorokin A.B., Zaytsev Y.A., Dubrovin K.V., Usikyan E.G. The role of artificial intelligence for difficult airways prediction in adults: a narrative review. Annals of Critical Care. 2025;(1):110–122. doi:10.21320/1818-474X-2025-1-110-122.
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Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The development of artificial intelligence has opened up the possibility of its application in the practice of an anesthesiologist in the direction associated with the most life-threatening complications — the prediction of difficult airways. This article is about the principles of artificial intelligence and the experience of its modern application to predict the difficult airways. OBJECTIVES: To explain principles of the artificial intelligence, to determine the role of artificial intelligence in the diagnosis of difficult airways. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A review of the literature on the international Pubmed database the Russian-language elibrary.ru. The search words for english language databases were: artificial intelligence, deep learning, difficult airways; for russian language: искусственный интеллект, глубокое машинное обучение, трудные дыхательные пути. There was no exclusion for publication year. The criteria for inclusion of articles were: systematic reviews, meta-analysis, randomized clinical trials, review articles. Exclusion criteria: clinical case, dissertation, abstract, thesis, application of artificial intelligence methods in pediatric practice. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The first part of the article "artificial intelligence — the history of creation and the main provisions" is devoted to the history of creation, the principles of artificial intelligence. In the second part, "what can artificial intelligence do in the diagnosis of difficult airways?" it was analyzed 13 articles were received for analysis. The main methods of searching for predictors of difficult airways are based on the use of photographs of patients, the use of anthropometry and physical examination data, methods using thermal imager heat maps using gradient-weighted class activation mapping. In all the analyzed works, the effectiveness of predicting difficult airways using artificial intelligence was noted, with the exception of the Siriussawakul et al. study. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic methods based on the artificial intelligence in the practice of the anesthesiologist make it easier to work and improve the detection of patients with difficult airways. However, there are still a number of unresolved issues regarding the legal and ethical components of the application of these methods in clinical practice.

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