Abstract:

Aim: Tracheostomy is an interventional procedure frequently performed on critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). The purpose of this study is to report the characteristics of patients undergoing percutaneous tracheostomy in intensive care. Material and Methods: Cases admitted to intensive care between 2018 and 2022 and subjected to percutaneous tracheostomy were included. Cases involving surgical tracheostomy were excluded. We scanned the patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics, follow-up characteristics in intensive care, tracheostomy complications, and discharge characteristics. Patients were also divided into surviving and non-surviving groups and compared. Results: One hundred seven patients were included in the study. Men represented 64.5% of the patients, and the mean age of the entire patient group was 61.5 years. Tracheostomies were most frequently performed due to prolonged endotracheal intubation. Neurological diseases were the most common diagnoses, and the most frequent complication was bleeding. The groups differed in terms of age, comorbidity, presence of tracheostomy at time of discharge from intensive care, and anticoagulant use. The mortality rate was 69.2%. Conclusion: We think that percutaneous tracheostomy can be employed because it can be performed at the point of care in intensive care, and due its ease of application and low complication rate.

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