title: Tracheostomy in spinal cord injured: frequency and follow up.
abstract: Among 600 traumatic spinal cord injured (SCI) patients admitted during a 20 year period, 67 had a tracheostomy performed (11.2%). Of these 67 patients 46 had a cervical SCI. A concomitant thoracic trauma had occurred significantly more often in the group with thoracic or lumbar SCI than in those with a cervical SCI. The period from injury to tracheostomy was 0-48 days (median 4.4 days), and from tracheostomy to decannulation 3-167 days (median 31 days). At follow up 20 (30%) had died, primarily because of respiratory problems. Of the remaining 47 patients, 43 (91%) responded to a follow up questionnaire 3.5-21.7 years (median 10.4 years) after the injury. In the follow up 53% reported never to have had any inconvenience or trouble related to the tracheostomy. The major inconvenience among the others had been of cosmetic origin (28%), and 3 had had a surgical revision for this reason. At the time of follow up 9 patients (21%) still had certain complaints, primarily described as difficulty in swallowing. Minitracheostomy might in the future reduce the number of these complications.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Spinal Cord Injured, Rigshospitalet, National University Hospital, Hornboek, Denmark.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Biering-Sørensen
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Biering-Sørensen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012086:Reoperation; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000150:complications; D013997:Time Factors; D014139:Tracheostomy / Q000009:adverse effects