1. Serviço de Otorrinolaringologia, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central, EPE, Lisboa;
- 13th Congress of European Society of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 18-21 de Junho de 2016, Lisboa (poster)
Objectives: We the aim of this study was to evaluate the indications, complications and outcomes of pediatric tracheotomy at a Portuguese pediatric tertiary care center.
Methods: Female, the medical records of all patients who underwent tracheotomy at a Portuguese pediatric tertiary care center between January 2008 and December 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. We evaluated age, sex, indication for tracheotomy, complications and decannulation rate.
Results: During the 8-year period, 57 tracheotomies were performed. Full data was available for all patients. Thirty-three patients (58%) were males and twenty-four (42%) were females. Age at the time of tracheotomy ranged from 10 days to 16 years (average of 29 weeks), with the majority of patients, thirty-five (61%), being under one year-old. Long-term ventilation was the most common indication with 33 cases (58%). Thirteen patients (22,8%) died of non-related tracheotomy causes and one patient (1,8%) died from an early complication due to accidental decannulation, leading us to change the tracheotomy protocol during the year 2008. The most frequent late complications were suprastomal granuloma (5 cases - 8,8%) followed by tracheitis (3 cases - 5,3%). Fifteen patients (26.3%) were decannulated successfully, while nine others (15.8%) are in decannulation process.
Conclusion: Our series reflects the current trend of prolonged ventilation as the main indication for performing a pediatric tracheotomy. This is a safe procedure as long as the protocol is followed.The lower decannulation rate relates to the high percentage of patients needing assisted ventilation and also because the short follow-up period.
Palavras-chave: pediatric tracheotomy