Tracheostomy in patients with coronavirus disease 2019: An overview

Abstract

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is gripping the entire world, many patients are mainly presenting with respiratory problems and subsequently require intubation and mechanical ventilation in severe cases. The need to perform tracheostomy may arise, and the intensivist, anaesthetist, and other surgical specialties may be asked to perform a tracheostomy in known COVID-19 or suspected patients. Surgeons should be prepared for this eventuality while performing the procedures, taking all the measures to keep themselves and their team members safe from the undue risk of infection and exposure. This is a brief review of all the evidence present, till now, for those who will be performing tracheostomy in such patients.