A Prospective Evaluation of Routine Extubation Criteria in Children with Upper Respiratory Symptoms Undergoing Elective Surgery.

Abstract

A previous study has shown that tidal volume >5 mL/kg, conjugate gaze, facial grimace, purposeful movement, and eye opening are predictive of emergence and extubation readiness in children anesthetized primarily with inhalational agents. We hypothesize that having any three of the "Big Five" criteria above will be similarly predictive of extubation success even if upper respiratory symptoms are present. Following verbal consent, 756 patients ≤9 years of age were extubated awake. A parental questionnaire was performed preoperatively to assess upper respiratory symptoms and risk factors for respiratory adverse events. Based on this questionnaire, patients were assigned to either the non-upper respiratory infection symptom cohort or the upper respiratory infection symptom cohort. The presence or absence of the "Big Five" and other routine extubation criteria were recorded at extubation. Patients were included in the primary analysis only if they achieved ≥3 of the "Big Five" at the time of extubation. Awake extubations were graded as successful, intervention required, or major intervention required, according to a standard rubric. Intervention required and major intervention required were combined as a single outcome for the primary analysis. The positive predictive value of successful extubation was compared between the two cohorts using an equivalence analysis. The clinical equivalence margin was set at <5%. The positive predictive value of successful extubation with ≥3 of "Big Five" criteria in the non-upper respiratory infection symptom cohort was 94.7%[95%CI 92.5-97.0%] and 93.9%[95%CI 91.5%-96.3%] in the upper respiratory infection symptom cohort. The effect size and 95% confidence interval was 0.8%(95%CI -2.6%-4.2%). This was below the clinical equivalence margin of 5%. The presence of three or more of the "Big Five" criteria appears to be equivalently predictive of successful awake extubation in patients with upper respiratory symptoms when compared to patients with no upper respiratory symptoms.