Submental intubation versus tracheostomy in maxillofacial fractures

To compare submental intubation with tracheostomy in patients with maxillofacial fractures who were operated under general anesthesia and nasotracheal intubation was contraindicated.

This prospective comparative study was conducted on 32 patients undergoing maxillofacial operations. All patients had a panfacial trauma (including naso-ethmoid orbital fracture combined with mandibular fracture). Patients who had unstable cervical vertebra, laryngeal trauma, urgent tracheostomy, and patients with expected prolonged postoperative ventilation were excluded from the study. Patients were randomly assigned to elective tracheostomy and submental intubation groups. The patients were evaluated according to the time required to do elective tracheostomy or submental intubation, the operation comorbidity and complications, and the postoperative scar.

The average time required to do submental intubation was 8.35 min versus 30.75 min required to do elective tracheostomy with significant difference (p < 0.0001). No complication was reported with submental intubation while in elective tracheostomy group, surgical emphysema was registered in two patients. The submental scar was acceptable in all patients while the tracheostomy scar needs scar revision in four cases (p = 0.0325).

Submental endotracheal intubation appeared to be a simple, safe, and significantly faster reliable alternative to tracheostomy during surgical reconstruction of selected cases of maxillofacial fractures without indication for prolonged postoperative ventilation support with significantly lower morbidity.