Histological Findings of Resected Tracheal Ring in SARS-CoV-2-Positive and -Negative Tracheostomized Patients

The aim of this study was to compare the histopathological findings in the resected tracheal ring of tracheotomized critically ill patients with or without severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.

This is a prospective case-control study. The data collection period was between May 2020 and 2022. Eighty tracheostomies were performed on patients with long intubation, and the resected tracheal ring was examined by standard microscopy. Forty consecutive tracheotomies were carried out in COVID-19-positive and -negative patients.

The mean age was 67.1 (6.9 SD) years in the COVID-19 group and 67.8 (9.6 SD) in the control group (p = 0.3). The number of men in each group was 30 (75.0%) versus 27 (67.5%), respectively (p = 0.5). No relevant histological alterations were found in 82.5% of samples. Chronic subepithelial inflammation was found in 13.8% of cases. Two cases presented with vasculitis (2.5%), and one case presented with thrombotic microangiopathy (1.2%), all of them in the COVID-19 group. We found no statistically significant dependence between relevant histologic findings versus no alterations (X² = 0.779, p= 0.377) and no significant risk indices (RR = 1.8, OR = 2.032, PAR = 44%).

There is no evidence of increased risk of histopathological findings in the resected tracheal ring of patients with long intubation and COVID-19 disease.