Ciaglia percutaneous dilational tracheostomy. Early and late complications and follow-up

Evaluation of the safety of percutaneous dilational tracheostomy (PDT) for perioperative, early and late complications.

we prospectively collected complications in patients who underwent PDT for mechanical ventilation; patients were interviewed 8 months after discharge, symptomatic cases underwent ENT control.

10 bed general ICU in a 650 -bed general hospital treating 450 patients per year.

181 patients admitted between July 1998 and June 2000 who underwent PDT for mechanical ventilation. Prospe-ctive collection of data on patients and procedures and screening by a phone interview for symptoms possibly related to the tracheostomy. Symptomatic patients were referred to the ENT specialist. RESULTA: We found 17 perioperative minor complications and 10 minor during hospital stay complications. We traced 83 patients, alive 8 months after discharge. Sixty-one patients (73.5%) were symptom free. Four (4.8) complained of minimal dysphonia. Eighteen patients (21.7%) complained of symptoms deserving ENT control. Eleven patients came to the ENT control that was positive in 5 cases. In 2 patients swallowing uncoordination was found, in 1 arytenoid movement uncoordination. In 1 case (1.2%) a 25% tracheal stenosis was found. The stenosis was asymptomatic. One patient (1.2%) had a severe tracheal stenosis and had a Montgomery tracheal stent in place.

In our experience Ciaglia PDT had an overall low rate of complications (21.8%). No patient had severe early complication. We found only 1 (1.2%) severe late complication. In selected patients, Ciaglia PDT with endoscopic control guarantees a high safety standard.