The iatrogenic complications of tracheostomy

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to analyze the complications of tracheostomy associated with bleeding from the brachiocephalic trunk. A total of 13 protocols of the autopsy study of the patients who had died in the intensive care unit were available for the analysis. These patients had experienced heavy external bleeding from the tracheostomy defect shortly before death. The study has demonstrated that all the victims had the tracheostomy hole localized below the level of the standard dissection of the tracheal rings. Nine patients presented with a damage to the brachiocephalic trunk while four others had a pressure injury to the blood vessels. The study included the elucidation of the possible relationship between the anthropometric characteristics of the patients and the variability of the passage of the brachiocephalic trunk in front of the trachea. The length of the neck was found to usually correlate with the length of the body and the brachiocephalic trunk to run in front of the trachea at the level of its 8th-11th rings. The results of the present study may be instrumental in reducing the risk of complications after tracheostomy.