[Clinical study of ultrasound evaluation of fiberoptic bronchoscope guided tracheotomy]

To explore the clinical effect of ultrasound evaluation of fiberoptic bronchoscope (FB) guided tracheotomy, which can provide help for difficult tracheotomy and new operators.

The operating protocol was standardized for ultrasound evaluation of FB guided tracheotomy. Ten patients with difficult tracheotomy admitted to the department of critical care medicine of Donge Hospital from October 2019 to January 2020 were enrolled. According to this protocol, FB guided tracheotomy was performed under the ultrasound evaluation, and the amount of blood loss, operation time and related complications during procedures were collected.

The preparation of supplies, personnel, patients and the operation, the process of FB guided tracheotomy under the ultrasound evaluation were standardized. When tracheotomy was preformed for patients with difficult tracheotomy, it was necessary to use ultrasound first to evaluate the neck condition and vascular disorientation of patients, and the tracheotomy plan (tracheotomy site, incision size, and incision depth) was designed, and then the tracheotomy process was monitored under the guidance of FB. Among the 10 patients with difficult tracheotomy, 6 were male and 4 were female; body mass index was (32.2±1.4) kg/m². Tracheotomy was successfully completed within 10 minutes in all the 10 patients, with less than 5 mL blood loss, and no complications occurred.

Ultrasound evaluation of FB guided tracheotomy can improve the clinical operations and ensure patient safety.