ENT Updates

Clinical Research

Pediatric Tracheotomies: A 5-Year Experience In 152 Children

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https://doi.org/10.32448/entupdates.458961
Alper Akcan, F., Dündar, Y., Uluat, A., Cebeci, D., Ali Sungur, M., Salman, N., & Ünlü, İlhan. (2018). Pediatric Tracheotomies: A 5-Year Experience In 152 Children. ENT Updates, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.32448/entupdates.458961
Volume 8 Issue 2 (2018)
Copyright (c) 2018 Fatih Alper Akcan, Yusuf Dündar, Ahmet Uluat, Derya Cebeci, Mehmet Ali Sungur, Nergis Salman, İlhan Ünlü
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors

  • Fatih Alper Akcan
    Düzce University School of Medicine, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Düzce, Turkey
  • Yusuf Dündar Wayne State University Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Detroit/MI, USA
  • Ahmet Uluat Ministry of Health, Evliya Çelebi Training and Research Hospital, Department of Otolaryngology, Kutahya, Turkey
  • Derya Cebeci Düzce University School of Medicine, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Düzce, Turkey
  • Mehmet Ali Sungur Düzce University School of Medicine, Department of Biostatistic, Düzce, Turkey
  • Nergis Salman Ankara Children’s Hematology and Oncology Research and Training Hospital, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Ankara, Turkey
  • İlhan Ünlü Düzce University School of Medicine, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Düzce, Turkey

Objective: To analyze the indications, complications, and outcomes of pediatric tracheotomies.

Material and methods: All tracheotomies performed in a tertiary referral center between January 2011 and December 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. Demographic characteristics of patients, types of referral to hospital, tracheotomy indications, preoperative evaluation findings, surgical technique, postoperative care and complications, discharge and follow-up results were analyzed.

Results: A total of 152 pediatric patients underwent tracheotomy at our hospital during this five year period. The median age of patients at the time of tracheotomy was 15.8 months, ranging from 24 days to 17 years. Of the 152 patients, 91 had neurological diseases, 38 had cardiopulmonary diseases, 14 had craniofacial abnormalities, seven had upper airway obstruction, and two underwent tracheostomy for trauma. Eleven (7.2%) patients experienced early complications, and 15 (9.8%) experienced late complications. Twenty (13.1%) patients were decannulated during the follow-up period. Unfortunately, 9 patients (5.9%) died of primary disease and 3 patients (1.9%) died of tracheostomy-related complications

Conclusions: The majority of procedures were performed for diseases leading to prolonged mechanical ventilator support such as neurological and cardiopulmonary diseases. This study demostrates the importance of tracheotomy indications, which are the main predictors of decannulation rates. The other significant predictor is pulmonary complications that may cause permanent dependence of mechanical ventilator support as a result of pulmonary failure.

Keywords:

Pediatric tracheotomy tracheostomy decannulation complication