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Updated: Nov 2, 2025

Endotracheal Intubation via Tracheotomy and Subsequent Thoracotomy in Rats for Non-Survival Applications
Published on: March 15, 2024
Protocol for percutaneous tracheostomy and prevention of COVID-19 transmission
Nicolás Avalos1, Kristian Grego2
1Instituto Chileno de Cabeza y Cuello, Chile; Hospital de la Fuerza Aérea de, Chile; Profesor asociado U. de Valparaiso y U. de Santiago, Chile.
Introduction:
Currently we are faced with countless patients with prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the consequent increase in the need for tracheostomies and the risks that this includes for both patients and staff.
Objective:
It is necessary to establish a safety protocol for the performance of percutaneous tracheostomies in order to reduce the associated infections.
Material And Methods:
77 patients underwent tracheostomies between March 2020 and March 2021, evaluating the safety of the protocol and the rate of contagion among the staff.
Results:
Percutaneous tracheostomy was performed according to the protocol in 72 patients, 5 were excluded due to unfavorable anatomy or other reasons. There were no cases of SARS COVID-19 contagion among health personnel attributable to the procedure during the three-week follow-up period. There were no surgical complications in this series.
Conclusion:
The authors recommend implementing security protocols such as the one discussed in this work, given its low contagion rate and ease of implementation.
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