New Method for Evaluation of Difficult Intubation in Adults

There are multiple scores used for airway assesment ,the commonest one is LEMON score. LEMON is an airway assessment score that measures factors associated with difficult intubation such as obesity, head and neck movement, jaw movement , receding mandible, long upper incisors, Mallampatti scores, maxillary incisor characteristics, decreased mouth opening ,shorten thyromental distance and short neck.

The Height-to-Thyromental Distance ratio (H/TMD) has emerged as a simple, objective, and reproducible anatomical predictor of difficult laryngoscopy, as it normalizes mandibular space to patient height. However, airway difficulty is not purely anatomical; functional factors such as airway obstruction and cervical spine mobility significantly affect intubation success.

Therefore, combining H/TMD with two highly predictive functional elements from the LEMON score - Obstruction (O) and Neck Mobility (N) - may provide a more accurate, simplified, and clinically applicable model for predicting difficult airway. This combination is referred to as the HON Model (Height/TMD + Obstruction + Neck mobility).