Safe  and effective management of Tracheostomy  in COVID-19 patients

Background: An increasing number of COVID-19 patients worldwide will probably need tracheostomy in an emergency or at the recovering stage of COVID-19. We explored the safe and effective management of tracheostomy in COVID-19 patients, to benefit patients and protect healthcare workers at the same time. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 11 hospitalized COVID-19 patients undergoing tracheostomy. Clinical features of patients, ventilator withdrawal after tracheostomy, surgical complications and nosocomial infection of the healthcare workers associated with the tracheostomy were analyzed. Results: All the tracheostomy of 11 cases (100%) were performed successfully, including percutaneous tracheostomy of 6 cases (54.5%) and conventional open tracheostomy of 5 cases (45.5%). No severe postoperative complications occurred, and no healthcare workers associated with the tracheostomy are confirmed to be infected by SARS-CoV-2.  Conclusion: Comprehensive evaluation before tracheostomy, optimized procedures during tracheostomy, and special care after tracheostomy can make the tracheostomy safe and beneficial in COVID-19 patients.