Efficacy and Safety of an Aerosol Box for Percutaneous Tracheostomy in Patients with COVID-19 in an Intensive Care Unit.

Abstract

To assess whether the use of an aerosol box for percutaneous tracheostomy in patients with COVID-19 can protect healthcare workers and affect the procedure-related outcomes and complications. Descriptive study. Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Hospital, Çanakkale, Turkey from March to August, 2020. A retrospective evaluation of patients, who underwent percutaneous tracheostomy with an aerosol box, was conducted. Patients aged over 18 years, diagnosed with COVID-19 and requiring percutaneous tracheostomy were included. Exclusion criteria were: age under 18 years and refusal to participate in the study. Patients' age, gender, comorbidities, APACHE II scores at intensive care admission, numbers of intubated days, durations of tracheostomy opening time, and complications were recorded. Twenty-four patients underwent the procedure. Tracheostomy was performed successfully in all 24 cases (100%). The mean age of the cases was 67.2 ± 10.1 years. Four patients experienced minor bleeding related to performing the percutaneous tracheostomy using the aerosol box. No healthcare workers were infected with SARS-CoV-2 while performing the tracheostomy procedure. Use of the aerosol box had adequate efficacy and safety for performance of the percutaneous tracheostomy procedure in intubated patients with COVID-19, who were being followed up in the intensive care unit. This procedure could be used as an alternative to traditional tracheostomy methods in patients with contagious respiratory infections. Key Words: Tracheostomy, Intensive care unit, COVID-19, Aerosol box.