AN EVALUATION OF A NEW PERCUTANEOUS TRACHEOSTOMY KIT

The Portex percutaneous trachestomy kit incorporates guidewire dilatin g forceps which pass over a guidewire and perform rapid dilatation. Th ese forceps have curved jaws which are designed to reduce possible dam age to the lateral and posterior walls of the trachea. The guidewire d ilating forceps are first opened in front of the trachea to dilate the pretracheal tissues and then opened in the trachea to dilate the ante rior tracheal wall. A tracheostomy tube is then passed over the guidew ire and into the trachea. The procedure was rapid and successful in al l 20 patients, with no serious complications. Mean time to perform tra cheostomy was 4.9 min (range 90s-15 min). Overall, the Portex percutan eous tracheostomy kit worked well and proved a rapid and acceptable me thod for performing percutaneous tracheostomy.