[Trans-tracheal long-term oxygen therapy in respiratory failure]

The benefit of long-term oxygen therapy for patients under refractory hypoxaemia has been proven. Dealing with side effects due to high oxygen flow rates for sufficient oxygenation we treated four patients via a transtracheal oxygen catheter. Data are shown. Refractory hypoxaemia was successfully treated requiring 50% less oxygen. There were no complications related to the insertion procedure. Increased mucous plugging, while acute bacterial infection was observed, required frequent instillation of 0.5 cc normal saline. All patients experience an improvement in their quality of life with transtracheal oxygen.