One hundred fifty-three children 3 years of age or younger who had tracheotomies performed during the past 15 years are reviewed. During this time, short-term endotracheal intubation for airway obstruction from acute infections and long-term intubation for patients on ventilators have replaced early tracheotomy for these conditions. The number of tracheotomies decreased during each of three 5-year periods, from 73 to 55 to 25, respectively. Improvements in medical management resulted in prolonged survival of children with multiple abnormalities and resulted in more prolonged tracheotomies. Early complications occurred in 12% of patients and late complications occurred in 26%. In spite of changes in the indications, basic fundamentals of pediatric tracheotomy management remain unchanged.

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A series of 160 consecutive patients undergoing tonsil and adenoid surgery for upper airway obstruction is reported. The ages ranged from 8 months to 13 years. Sixty-seven percent were 2, 3, or 4 years of age. All were routinely admitted overnight postoperatively. Forty-five (28%) remained in the hospital longer than one night (2 to 20 days). Postoperative respiratory problems were the reason for prolonged hospital stay in 30 of these 45 patients. Preoperative “danger-signals” of potential postoperative respiratory problems were: a history of severe obstructive symptoms with apnea and moderate or strongly positive sleep study, daytime somnolence, need for urgent T&A, and cardiomegaly. Risk factors present in a smaller number of patients were obesity, congenital stenosis of airways, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. We suggest that children with these danger signals not be considered as candidates for outpatient T&A surgery.