Indications of tracheostomy in Basrah

Abstract EN

This retrospective study aimed to determine the main indications of tracheostomy in four main hospitals in Basrah centre.

The study included 89 patients who were submitted to tracheostomy during a 2 year period and data was reviewed from the medical records.

Patients were 70 males (78.66%) and 19 females (21.34%).

The age of the patients ranged from 1-75 years with mean age of 44.367±13.18 years.

Open surgical tracheostomy was performed in all patients, 89.89% of them were submitted to surgery as elective procedure and 94.39% were operated upon under general anesthesia.

The main indications of tracheostomy in this study is the need for prolonged ventilation (61.80%) mostly caused by head injury, followed by upper aero-digestive tumor (19.1%) and lastly cranio-cervical trauma (8.89%).

In conclusion, the commonest indication of tracheostomy in Basrah is the need for prolonged ventilation.