Abstract
Objective:To disscuss the changes in indications, surgical opportunity and post-operative management of pediatric tracheotomy. Methods:Retrospective cohort study of pediatric patients undergoing tracheostomy between January 2016 and December 2020 at Children's Hospital of Fudan University. Ninety-five patients were divided into four groups according to their primary indication. Group A: neuromuscular disease（n=36, 37.9%）, Group B: congenital abnormality（n=30, 31.6%）, Group C: accidental injury（n=15, 15.8%）, Group D: tumor（n=14, 14.7%）. Results:By the comparison between four groups, children in group A had higher incidence of Severe pneumonia（47.2%）, higher usage of mechanical ventilation（97.2%）, longer hospitalization days（=84.9 days） and higher rate of Ventilator dependence（66.7%）; children in group B had higher rate of emergency surgery（4.2%）, lower age（median age 2 months） and lower usage of mechanical ventilation（30.0%）; Mortality of the children in group D was the highest（42.9%）. In the recent five years, we saw a increasing tendency in the proportion of group A（28.6%, 35.0%, 38.5%, 44.4%, 43.5%）, and a decreasing tendency of group B（57.1%, 30.0%, 38.5%, 33.3%, 21.7%）. On discharge, 50.5% of children（48 of 95）spontaneously breathe with the tracheos tomy in situ, 29.5% of children（28 of 95）had ventilator-dependence, tracheostomy decannulation was successful in 6.3% of children （6 of 95） and all-cause mortality was 13.7% （13 of 95）. Conclusion:Most paediatric tracheotomies were performed due to chronic underlying diseases. Pediatric tracheostomy should be considered as a long-term intervention in many children. Earlier tracheotomy can shorten the duration of post-tracheotomy mechanical ventilation in several conditions.