The impact of paediatric tracheostomy on both patient and parent

Experience of the school-aged child with tracheostomy

“…Minimizing disruption to the regular participation in mainstream educational activities undoubtedly is important for these children and their families. Hopkins et al supports this in a recent study, highlighting that more coordinated support for such families and their children is needed [10].…”

“…Inclusion for the study was based on the following criteria: participants were of school or preschool age (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18); participants had an indwelling tracheostomy tube or were decanulated within the past 12 months; participant's parent(s) or legal guardian consented to administration of questionnaire. Twenty-five questions, a combination of multiple-choice and short answer, were presented via telephone survey in November of 2007 ( Fig.…”

Custom-made intraoral mandibular distraction as treatment for neonatal airway obstruction

“…Besides the morbidity and mortality of tracheotomy, patients with history of tracheotomy in infancy are associated with lower overall language and auditory comprehension, speech developing problems and moderate to severe mental and physical impairments 25,26 . Caretakers of tracheotomized patients often score low on all aspects of quality of life including sleep, relationships, social life and ability to work 13 .…”

Graph-based segmentation of the pediatric trachea in MR images to model growth

“…[4] Even if a child has a successful tracheotomy, there is a significant burden that is placed on the family or caregiver. [2,6] Other surgical techniques to repair laryngotracheal abnormalities have been developed. Laryngomalacia has been successfully treated by supraglottoplasty to remove extra, obstructive laryngeal tissue.…”

“…The simplest approach to provide a stable airway is to perform a tracheotomy but it requires complex care with its own complications. [2][3][4][5][6][7] Other surgical procedures to reconstruct the airway require detailed knowledge of the normal pediatric airway and its variance between individuals. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Establishing the characteristics of the normal airway and congenital abnormalities is imperative to quantitatively assess if a reconstructed airway is enlarged enough to provide sufficient airflow.…”