Percutaneous Tracheostomy in Patients at High Risk of Bleeding Complications: A Retrospective Single-center Experience

Aims: To study the bleeding complications in patients undergoing percutaneous tracheostomy and who are at high risk of these complications (due to thrombocytopenia, use of anticoagulant or antiplatelet agents, and difficult anatomy). Materials and methods: A retrospective study was undertaken, which included all patients undergoing percutaneous tracheostomy in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) of Rashid Hospital, Dubai, over a period of 15 months. Percutaneous tracheostomy was performed by senior medical intensivists using the single-tapered dilator technique under fiber optic bronchoscopic guidance. All patients underwent ultrasonographic evaluation of the neck to look for difficult anatomy and to determine the size of tracheostomy tube, etc. Patients were divided into two groups, those who were deemed to be at high risk of bleeding complications were compared with patients without any risk factors for bleeding complications. Other complications such as pneumothorax and tracheal leak were also looked for and were documented, if present. The data were summarized using descriptive statistics and the Fischer's exact test of significance was used for frequency distribution cross tables, at 5% level of significance (p value cutoff <0.05). Results: One hundred and fifty-nine patients underwent percutaneous tracheostomy during the period of study. The age-group of patients ranged from 21 years to 104 years and males were predominant (65.41%). Of the 87 (54.71%) patients with one or more risk factors for bleeding, 53 (60.92%) patients had at least one risk factor for bleeding complications, while 34 (39.08%) had more than one risk factors. Bleeding was seen in total of two patients out of which one patient was in the group at risk of bleeding complications. Conclusion: Percutaneous tracheostomy is a relatively safe procedure with very low rate of complications when performed with due precautions. Even in patients deemed to be at high risk of complications, the rate of complications is very low.