OBJECTIVE. To estimate the effect of tracheostomy on ventilation in patients with COVID-19. MATERIAL AND METHODS. An observational, retrospective, analytical, longitudinal study of a consecutive series of cases was carried out between April 2020 and March 2021. The study included data about different variables, such as age, sex, comorbidities, time of orotracheal intubation, place of surgery, complications and death, ventilatory parameters, blood gas and time of the weaning after tracheostomy. Descriptive statistics were used with measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion and the Wilcoxon test to see differences in the ventilatory parameters. RESULTS. The study was performed on 130 patients admitted to the ICU with intubation to manage their critical condition. From these patients, the study group included 31 who underwent tracheostomy, 25 males (80.64%) with a mean age of 57.1±13.395 years and with 20.52±6.722 days in orotracheal intubation. Among the most frequent comorbidities, we encountered: arterial hypertension (51.6%), obesity (35.4%), diabetes mellitus (22.5%), hypothyroidism (6.4%), asthma (3.2%), pregnancy (3.2%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (3.2%) and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (3.2%). The main complications were bleeding (12.9%) and decannulation (3.2%). The survival rate was 90.32%. Comparing the pre-surgical and postoperative outcomes of the ventilatory parameters and blood gas, statistically significant differences were found only in case of PEEP (p = 0.033), FiO2 (p = 0.001) and O2 saturation (p = 0.001). The average removal of the ventilator was 4.3±2.437 days. CONCLUSION. There were no significant changes in the ventilatory parameters, however, they were sufficient to wean the patients from the ventilation team and discharge them to the internal medicine department to continue their management outside the intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE. To describe the results of tracheostomy in a series of cases in patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit in two hospitals in the Northwest Mexico.MATERIAL AND METHODS. A prospective, descriptive, longitudinal study was carried out on a series of cases from April 2020 to August 2020. Data such as age, sex, hospital of origin, risk factors for the development of severe COVID-19, ventilatory and gasometric parameters before and 72 hours after, the days of oro-tracheal intubation were taken into account. Descriptive statistics with frequencies and percentages were used for the qualitative variables, for the numerical measures of central tendency as the mean and the median, the distribution of the results.RESULTS. From April to August 2020, in the two Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of these hospitals, 134 COVID-19 cases were admitted. In 14 patients (10.4%) tracheotomies were performed, 13 (92.8%) were male, mean age 49.21 years, 85% tested positive. The mean duration of oro-tracheal intubation was 22.7. Obesity combined with diabetes and arterial hypertension represented a risk factor in 57.1% of the cases. In 10 patients, the procedure was performed in the ICU bed. There were changes in some ventilatory parameters before and 72 hours after the procedure. The average number of days after weaning from the ventilator was 5.5 days. There were 3 deaths in our series.CONCLUSION. The adequate and prudent selection of COVID-19 patients for tracheostomy makes it easier to choose with greater justification the patients with the best prognosis, avoiding unnecessary procedures in a patient and a greater risk of contagion in the personnel.