Illustration of the current practice and outcome comparison of early versus late tracheostomy after pediatric ECMO

• Published in: International journal of artificial organs 2020-11, Vol.43 (11), p.726-734
• Main Authors: Tripathi, Sandeep, Swayampakula, Anil K, Deshpande, Girish G, Astle, Michele, Wang, Yanzhi, Welke, Karl F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation; Female; Heart; Heart Failure - mortality; Heart Failure - therapy; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Intensive care; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data; Male; Membranes; Ostomy; Oxygenation; Pediatrics; Respiration, Artificial - statistics & numerical data; Respiratory Insufficiency - mortality; Respiratory Insufficiency - therapy; Time Factors; Tracheostomy; Tracheotomy; Ventilators
• ISSN: 0391-3988; 1724-6040
• DOI: 10.1177/0391398820913571

Objective: Pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation typically necessitates protracted ventilator support, yet not much is known about the use of tracheostomy in the pediatric subpopulation. The study was designed with an objective to quantify the prevalence of tracheostomy in children with respiratory/cardiac failure requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and to compare outcomes for patients undergoing early, late, and no tracheostomy. Methods: Data of patients 21 days after intensive care unit admission. Results: Data were analyzed for 2127 patients meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria. Five percent (107/2127) underwent a tracheostomy. Of these, 28% (30/107) underwent early and 72% (77/107) late tracheostomy. A higher mortality was found in the no tracheostomy group (41.3%) compared to early (13.3%) and late tracheostomy (14.3%) groups. Late tracheostomy was associated with 2.4 times the expected intensive care unit length of stay and 1.87 times the expected ventilator days as compared to patients with no tracheostomy. Early tracheostomy was associated with a shorter intensive care unit length of stay (p value 21 days) is associated with worse outcomes in the cohort of children who underwent Pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation compared to patients who did not undergo tracheostomy. Early tracheostomy is associated with shorter intensive care unit stay and ventilator duration when compared to late tracheostomy.