Analysis of tracheotomy indications in children treated in the Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology of Medical University of Warsaw between 2015-2020

Introduction. Tracheostomy is the opening enabling breathing without the larynx, throat and mouth, which aims to restore and sustain airway patency. Indications of this intervention have changed over the years. The selection of patients for this procedure, as well as the moment, when it has to be performed are still not clearly defined. Those require a multidisciplinary approach and a standardized protocol. More analyses are necessary to create widely available guidelines. Aim. Analysis of tracheotomy indications in children performed between 2015-2020 in the Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology, Medical University of Warsaw. Material and methods. During the 5-year period (2015-beginning of 2020) 64 children with tracheostomy were treated in the Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology. Groups of tracheotomy indications were separated after a retrospective overview of the 64 cases from our clinic and after manual and electronic search through medical databases for indications for tracheotomy in previous years. Then patient’s data (age at the time of surgery, concomitant diseases and/or disabilities) was collated, which allowed to present the characteristics of children and compare the tracheotomy indications in previous years with the results of this research. Results. Tracheotomy was performed among 64 children. The median patients’ age was 0.5 year and the average age was 4.26 years. Our patients were affected by many various conditions. We divided them into 8 main groups: congenital malformation syndromes, trauma, vocal folds palsy, perinatal complications, infection, autoimmune diseases, oncological and post-intubation subglottic stenosis. Currently, congenital malformation syndromes turned out to be the most common indication for tracheotomy. Conclusions. 1. Tracheotomy indications in children have changed over the years. 2. There is increasing number of tracheotomies due to various congenital defects. 3. New groups of tracheotomy indications among children are autoimmune diseases and injuries; those groups have the highest average of age. 4. The result of effective pharmacological treatment of laryngeal hemangiomas is the lack of tracheotomy performed in this indication. 5. The number of tracheotomies performed due to post-intubation stenosis has decreased. 6. Vocal cords palsy as an indication for tracheotomy in children is most often a complication of cardiac surgery due to congenital heart defect; this group of patient’s is the youngest among all. 7. Viral infections are still the tracheotomy indication among children.