The assessment of the upper airway prior to a flexible bronchoscopy procedure to help identify patients in whom it may be difficult to secure an airway is referred to as:

a. the Glasgow Coma Scale.
b. the Mallampati classification.
c. the APACHE scale.
d. the Borg scale.

ANS: B
The assessment of the upper airway prior to the procedure helps to identify those patients in whom it may be difficult to secure an airway in case of hypoventilation. The Mallampati classifi-cation is one of the most commonly used methods to identify individuals who may pose diffi-culty during intubation. The Mallampati score is assessed by having the patient open his/her mount and protrude the tongue as much as possible without phonation.