The impact that a new specialist tracheostomy service, designed specifically for the care of patients with tracheostomies, was assessed in terms of type of tracheostomy tube used, time to first tube change, time to decannulation, and incidence of tracheostomy related complications in a teaching hospital with no on-site ear, nose, and throat facility. A total of 170 patients were studied. After ...

BACKGROUND The complication rates for tracheostomy patients could be serious and life threatening. As a result, length of stay (LOS) increases and patient outcomes can be negatively impacted. Examples of complications include accidental decannulation, bleeding and total occlusion. Studies suggest there is an inconsistency in tracheostomy care among providers and institutions. Other studies sugg...

Airway fires are an uncommon but real and devastating complication of tracheostomy. One such fire in a 31-year-old man is described. Surgical fires are discussed, and 15 reported cases of tracheostomy fire are reviewed. A tracheostomy protocol, adopted by our department and designed to avoid this life-threatening complication, is described. Surgeons and anaesthetists involved in tracheostomy mu...

M e t h o d s Data sources: MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials, National Research Register, the National Health Service Trusts Clinical Trials Register, Medical Research Council U.K. database, National Health Service Research and Development Health Technology Assessment Programme, and British Heart Foundation database (last search in November 2...

Tracheostomy is an important procedure in children requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation. We conducted a retrospective study to assess the frequency, indications, postoperative course and short-term outcome of elective tracheostomy in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of Pakistan. Twenty-five patients underwent tracheostomy in last 5 years (2.2 % of all PICU admissions). Mean age of ...

Tracheostomy is a common procedure for intensive care patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation. In this case report, we describe a 78-year-old female patient admitted for an aneurysm of the cerebral anterior communicating artery. Following immediate endovascular coiling, she remained ventilated and was transferred to the neurological intensive care unit. On postoperative day ten, a p...

BACKGROUND Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons perform the majority of surgical tracheostomies. Intensive care anaesthetists are increasingly performing bedside percutaneous tracheostomy. The objectives of this study were to characterize emergency complications of tracheostomy and to ascertain healthcare professionals' knowledge of life-saving strategies for the patient with a tracheostomy. ...

There is little evidence-based literature on the management of tracheostomized patients. The existing data relate to the role of tracheostomy in specific disease states, the timing of tracheostomy, and comparison of open surgical to percutaneous tracheostomy. Tracheostomy protocols are under development. A recent series of 1,130 patients who underwent tracheostomy had a combined procedural, ear...

INTRODUCTION Previous reports have demonstrated that prior cardiac surgery is independently associated with in-hospital mortality after infant tracheostomy. We aimed to determine whether these infants would continue to be at increased risk for death following hospital discharge. METHODS A retrospective review was performed on subjects < 2 y of age who recovered from tracheostomy in the pediat...