AN AUDIT OF TRACHEOSTOMY AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: To determine the indications and complications of tracheostomy in a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: This descriptive study was conducted at the department of ENT, Head and Neck surgery, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar from January to December 2010. This study included 160 patients fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria. All these patients were properly evaluated. After taking well informed consent tracheostomy was performed in all the patients as emergency or elective procedure depending upon the clinical condition of the patient. The data was collected on a proforma and it was analyzed using SPSS version 10. Results: A total of 160 patients underwent tracheostomy who constituting 110 male and 50 female, with male: female ratio of 2.2:1. The age of the patients ranged from 01-75 years with mean age of 37.61 + S.D 19.99 years. Tracheostomy was performed in 148 cases (92.5%) as emergency and in 12 cases (7.5%) as elective procedure. The commonest indication for tracheostomy was trauma (65.62%) followed by infection (26.25%).Elective tracheostomy was performed for inoperable tumours. The early complications were 37.5% while late complications were 7.5%. Conclusion: It is concluded that the common etiology of tracheostomy in our part of the world is airway obstruction due to trauma and complications of tracheostomy can be minimized by improving the postoperative care of tracheostomized patients.