Tracheostomy in Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus infected children at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa

Summary Tracheostomy in adults with HIV/AIDS has been reported to be associated with both high and early mortality of 47–100%. There is minimal data regarding the role of tracheostomy in HIV infected children. We did a retrospective analysis of HIV positive children that underwent tracheostomy at our institution over a 5-year period, 2002–2006. A total of 70 tracheostomies were done during the period and 15 (21.4%) of these children were confirmed as HIV infected. The average age at presentation for HIV infected children with upper airway obstruction resulting eventually in tracheostomy was 9.4 months and 60% were under 1 year of age. Only three (20%) were on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) prior to presentation. The cause of upper airway obstruction was croup in 14 (93%) of these 15 children. Following tracheostomy all were treated with ART. To date six children have been successfully decannulated (40%) and there have been three deaths (20%) which were unrelated to tracheostomy. Conclusion Tracheostomy in HIV positive children is not associated with the high mortality that has been reported in adults provided such children are started on treatment with antiretroviral therapy.