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77th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

24.05. - 28.05.2006, Mannheim

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Tracheostomy for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

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Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 77. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie e.V.. Mannheim, 24.-28.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. Doc06hnod619

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hnod2006/06hnod619.shtml

Published: April 24, 2006

© 2006 Maisel.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Obstructive sleep apnea is primarily managed in the United States by medical technology using CPAP or BiPAP. Patients with severe sleep apnea intolerant of CPAP or with anatomic limitations have been treated with tracheostomy. These patients are young to middle aged and with treatment of their co-morbidities have a reasonable life expectancy. We, therefore, have tailored the tracheostomy to a matured long term stoma to minimize granulation, ease patient self-care and allow overnight extubation with the tube free tracheostomy. 85 tracheostomy patients are described. The technique with tracheostomy and their long term results are noted. This remains a reasonable procedure in the dangerously ill sleep patient intolerant of CPAP and requiring management of the sleep apnea.