Predictors of difficulty in bedside percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy: pilot studyIntroduction: percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy is currently one of the main procedures performed in an intensive care unit (ICU). However, there are no well-defined indicators of technical difficulty in performing the procedure.
Objectives: to define predictors of difficulty in performing bedside percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy.
Methodology: prospective cohort study encompassing 21 patients who underwent bedside percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy in the ICU at a single center.
Results: Sternohyoid (SH) distance shorter than 7 cm is associated with a 50% increase in the risk of technical difficulty (OR 0.44 and p <0.03).
Conclusion: the reduction in (SH) distance is related to an increased risk of difficulty in performing percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy in the ICU bed.
Keywords:
Tracheostomy; Airway Management; Intensive Care Units
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnail
*The graphic was created by the Stata IC v16 software for Mac, after a multivariate logistic re-gression analysis showing the respective confidence intervals (CI-95%) ** Outcome (y axis) - probability of difficulty to carry out the procedure/predictor (x axis) - sternohyod distance (cm) measured as straight line, having the patient in cervical extension ***The difficulty was defined as the presence of at least one of the following items: long time to carry it out; more than one tracheal puncture; difficult dilation; and surgeons’ report of having had difficulty ot carry out the procedure.