Outcomes After Tracheostomy for Patients With Respiratory Failure due to COVID-19.

Objective: To evaluate the utility and safety of tracheostomy for patients with respiratory failure from COIVD-19 and describe patient clinical characteristics and process of management.

Methods: Case series of the first 24 COVID-19 patients who underwent tracheostomy at our institution, a single-center tertiary care community hospital intensive care/ventilator weaning unit. The patients all had respiratory failure from COVID-19 and required endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation.

The spectrum of lung disease due to chronic occult aspiration.

Rationale: Chronic aspiration of small volumes of oral and gastric contents can lead to lung disease. This process is less familiar than the acute aspiration syndromes, which can create confusion in terminology as well as with radiologic and pathologic definitions.

Objectives: In this study we analyze a series of cases of patients with chronic occult aspiration to better define the disease process.