Tracheal Exposure Without Tracheostomy Completion in Trans-oral Robotic Oncologic Surgery

Upper Aerodigestive Tract Neoplasms

Tracheostomy, Upper aerodigestive tract neoplasms, Robotic-assisted surgery, Unnecessary surgery, Surgery complications

Upper aerodigestive tract neoplasms surgery results in important trauma, including swelling (oedemas) that can lead to respiratory tract obstruction and death from suffocation. To prevent this, protective tracheostomy is performed, allowing patients to breathe through a cannula during the critical phase. Although tracheostomy is reassuring, it presents complications, including swallowing disorders, refeeding delay and pulmonary infections. It generates anxiety for patients and can prevent them from communicating, which can affect their psychological well-being during hospitalization. In Sainte Musse Hospital, patients who undergo upper aerodigestive tract neoplasms surgery are continuously monitored in intensive care unit. For some "at risk" patients, tracheostomy preparation is performed during operation with tracheal exposure but no incision. If dyspnea occurs, reanimators can quickly access to trachea and proceed to tracheostomy completion. This method, called PREPA-TRACH, avoids unnecessary tracheostomies while minimizing risks for the patients who would need it. Study purpose is to assess the security and reliability of this PREPA-TRACH protocol.

This retrospective descriptive monocentric study aims at producing a descriptive series of patients who underwent tracheal exposure in case of tracheostomy hoping to avoid them a complete tracheostomy. Its purpose is to demonstrate on one hand the reliability and security of this technique and on the other hand to define some imperative criteria of surgical indication for tracheostomy or no tracheostomy. The number of patients included corresponds to the eligible patients cohort of Hôpital Sainte Musse ENT surgery department over the 10 last years.

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