Percutaneous Dilatational Tracheostomy and Surgically Created Tracheostomy in ICU Patients

During the research, the authors tried to assess and compare two main strategies for doing tracheostomy: Surgically Created Tracheostomy (SCT) and Percutaneous Dilatational Tracheostomy (PDT). In a randomized clinical trial, 60 cases of patients who were admitted in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and needed tracheostomy during their stay were enrolled. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. Demographic characteristics, associated and underlying diseases, type and duration of procedure, duration of receiving mechanical ventilation and ICU stay, expenses and complications of tracheostomy including bleeding, subcutaneous emphysema, pneumothorax, stomal infection and airway loss were all recorded during study and compared between both groups. There were significant differences between two groups of patients in terms of duration of receiving mechanical ventilation, duration of tracheostomy procedure and procedure expenses. There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of age and gender of patients, duration of ICU stay and complications of tracheostomy including copious bleeding, stomal infection, subcutaneous emphysema and airway.