A comparative study of complications and long term outcomes of Surgical Tracheostomy and two techniques of Percutaneous Tracheostomy

CONTEXT: The operative technique for surgical tracheostomy has remained unchanged, but different techniques for percutaneous tracheostomy have evolved due to interest in minimally invasive procedures for the critically ill patient. AIMS: To compare the periprocedural complications and long term outcomes of bedside surgical tracheostomy (ST) with two percutaneous tracheostomy (PCT) techniques, namely serial guide wire dilating forceps (GWDF) and PercuTwist (PT). SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This prospective observational study was carried out in ICU of a tertiary referral centre over three year period on adult intubated patients needing elective tracheostomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with anticipated difficult neck anatomy were assigned for ST based on discretion of intensivist. Patients included for PCT were randomly assigned to the GWDT and PT technique. 90 patients underwent either bedside ST (n = 30), PCT by GWDF technique (n = 30) or PCT with PercuTwist (n = 30) and were followed up with fibreoptic bronchoscopy monthly for 06 months. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data was analyzed by applying chi square tests for categorical variables. RESULTS: Periprocedural complications during PCT included major bleeding (>100ml) in two patients in GWDF group which required conversion to ST. Periprocedural bleeding was also the main complication in ST. Increased incidence of granulation tissue and tracheal narrowing in long term was seen in both ST and PCT groups. All of the P values analysed for the intra operative, post operative complications or long term outcomes were >0.05. CONCLUSIONS: There was no statistically significant difference in incidence of complications of ST and two techniques of PCT. Proper case selection makes PCT as safe as ST.