Abstract
One of the most commonly performed procedures in the critically ill, tracheostomy has been described and used for lifesaving treatment of upper-airway obstruction for at least 3,500 years. The procedure can be performed surgically in the operating room or at the bedside in the intensive care unit. Recently, percutaneous techniques performed by a variety of specialists have become popular alternatives to open surgical tracheostomy. Various devices have been developed to minimize identified risk and improve the simplicity of the procedure. These techniques and devices are described in this paper.
Footnotes
- Correspondence: Charles G Durbin Jr MD FAARC, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia Health Science Center, PO Box 800710, Charlottesville VA 22908-0170. E-mail: cgd8v{at}virginia.edu.
Charles G Durbin Jr MD FAARC presented a version of this paper at the 20th Annual New Horizons Symposium at the 50th International Respiratory Congress, held December 4–7, 2004, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Copyright © 2005 by Daedalus Enterprises Inc.
