The Importance of Percutaneous Tracheostomy in Critical Care for Improving Patient Prognosis

Abstract

Tracheostomy is considered to be a life-saving procedure in the field of medicine. Although its importance was vague before, new studies and research work are proving it to be indeed a life-saving, worthy procedure. Tracheostomy is a very ancient procedure that was used from around the 3500 B.C.       Now, surgeons prefer it when they see that a patient is not improving their already low GCS score and is unable to maintain breathing and ventilation without any support. For such patients, usually some time is given to evaluate whether they are gradually improvising under the effect of medications or not. If there is no improvement, then the patient is preceded towards surgery for tracheostomy. For tracheostomy, there are two major techniques that are used for performing the procedure. These include the open surgical method and the percutaneous method. Both the methods are widely used in the operation theaters today, yet the indication, contraindications, and complications are different for each method. This review reflects upon the rising trend of using percutaneous tracheostomy in critical care settings. Although there is no difference in the results and outcomes of each method, however, there are certain indications that make the percutaneous method applicable on the patients. It has helped successfully improve the GCS score of several patients and has also helped improve the prognosis of some patients who were otherwise being seen to proceed in a deteriorating manner. This review will also reflect upon the different techniques of tracheostomy that are preferred while performing it through the percutaneous method.