Related Experiment Videos
Percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy: an alternative approach to surgical tracheostomy
A Chendrasekhar1, S Ponnapalli, A Duncan
1Department of Surgery, Brooklyn Hospital Center, NY, USA.
Southern Medical Journal
|October 1, 1995
Abstract:
Percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (PDT) offers a nonoperative alternative to patients needing an elective tracheostomy. The technique associated with PDT is essentially a progressive dilatation using blunt-tipped dilators for the placement of a tracheostomy tube. We retrospectively compared patient charges and operating time for 18 PDTs and 18 surgical tracheostomies. Our analysis suggests that percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy is a cost-effective alternative to the open procedure for elective tracheostomy.