International Journal of
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Research Article Volume 10 Issue 2
Experience of 1003 tracheostomy tube changes in a chronic pediatric intensive care unit
María Amelia Matesa, María Eugenia Pagnoni, Judith Frydman
Received: February 24, 2026 | Published: March 9, 2026
Citation: Matesa MA, Pagnoni ME, Frydman J. Experience of 1003 tracheostomy tube changes in a chronic pediatric intensive care unit. Int J Fam Commun Med. 2026;10(2):61-63. DOI: 10.15406/ijfcm.2026.10.00413
Abstract
Objective: To analyze how frequently tracheostomy tubes are replaced due to materialrelated issues and, secondarily, to describe the general reasons for tracheostomy tubes replacements in a public chronic pediatric inpatient unit from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Study design: A retrospective observational study was conducted, analyzing the medical records of patients under 16 years of age who were admitted with tracheostomy tubes to our unit. A list of reasons for tracheostomy tubes replacement was established. Results: A total of 30 patients with tracheostomy tubes were admitted. The median age was 21.5 months (range: 3 months to 16 years), and 20 patients (66.6%) were male. A total of 1,003 tracheostomy tube changes were performed for various reasons. The majority (78.2%) were routine, time-based changes (every 15 days). Regarding material defects, failures were more frequent in patients who had tracheostomy tubes with cuffs compared to those who had exclusively without cuffs (p = 0.002). Conclusion: Our data analysis shows that performing tracheostomy tubes changes every 15 days and reusing them resulted in a 5.68% failure rate for certain tube components, with cuffed tubes experiencing the highest failure rates.
Keywords: tracheostomy, pediatrics, trachea, intensive care, long-term hospital, airway
©2026 Matesa, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.