Pattern of indications for tracheostomy in a tertiary hospital in South Western Nigeria.

Introduction: Tracheostomy is a life-saving procedure; the benefits and frequency of procedures being performed have led to frequent reviews of indication in many regions of the world. The aim is to establish the indications, diagnosis and complications of tracheostomy performed in the past 10 years in a tertiary hospital in Lagos.

Methods: This is a 10-year retrospective study of all patients who had tracheostomies for various indications from 2010 to 2019. Patient medical records were analysed for demographic profile, diagnosis, indication, elective or emergency tracheostomy, surgeon's rank, technique of decannulation and type of complications. All the variables in the data were imputed and analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 27. Continuous variables were presented as mean and standard deviation, whereas categorical variables were presented as frequency and percentage.

Results: Four hundred and eighty-six tracheostomies were carried out during the period under review, and 440 patients had complete data retrieved. The age group of 0-9 years constituted the most common age for tracheostomy (18%). The most common indication for tracheostomy was for relief of upper airway obstruction in 53.4%. Neoplasms (40%) and trauma (30.7%) constituted primary diagnosis requiring tracheostomies. Amongst the paediatric age group with upper airway obstruction, infections (31.8%) and foreign body inhalation (24.3%) constituted the most common primary diagnosis. Stoma infection and peristomal granulation tissue were the most common early complication (21.8%) and late complication (43.4%), respectively.

Conclusion: Relief of upper airway obstruction from neoplasm remains the most common indication for tracheostomy, and peristomal granulation infection was the most common complication.