Translaryngeal tracheostomy: experience of 340 cases

Abstract

Objective: To describe the authors' initial experience with a new and innovative dilational translaryngeal tracheostomy bedside technique.

Study design: A prospective documentation of 340 patients who received an elective translaryngeal tracheostomy in a multidisciplinary, tertiary care intensive care unit during a 45-month period.

Results: All translaryngeal tracheostomy procedures but one were completed successfully; one was aborted because of bleeding from a thyroid vein. Minor perioperative complications occurred in 42% of patients, which caused no adverse effects. The most common complication was arterial desaturation occurring in 17% of patients; this was short-lived, and the lowest saturation was 79%. Blood loss was minimal (<5 mL) in all but one case, despite an elevated international normalized ratio (INR) and partial thromboplastin time in 42% and 41% of patients, respectively, and a low platelet count in 13% of patients.

Conclusions: Translaryngeal tracheostomy is a safe and reliable technique and can also be used in patients with unstable cervical spines and bleeding diathesis. It has become the authors' procedure of choice for an elective bedside tracheostomy in the intensive care unit.