Percutaneous tracheostomy: To bronch or not to bronch - That is the question

摘要

I appreciate the interest that Drs. Corso and Gambale have in our recent publication on percutaneous tracheostomy, but I would like to clarify some of their misconceptions. First and foremost, the study did not suggest or conclude that routine bronchoscopy was "futile" but rather that in experienced hands, percutaneous tracheostomy could be performed safely with or without bronchoscopic guidance.The complication rate for percutaneous tracheostomy varies in the literature, ranging between 1.4% and more than 30%. Most of these reports include only the early complications, and the complication rates in those series are 4% to 9%; our early complication rate was 3% to 4%. Only Kornblith et al.