Introduction:

Tracheostomy procedures in intensive care units are on the rise; however, they can lead to both perioperative and postoperative complications, with a variable incidence from 5 to 40% and even death in up to 1.4% of individuals. Despite this, few studies address causal concepts or mechanical and non mechanical risk factors about this important topic.

Objective:

To review the scope of the available scientific literature on complications of mechanical and non-mechanical origin associated with a tracheostomy.

Materials and Methods:

The research question and inclusion criteria were established to conduct the search in PubMed and EBSCO databases between 2015 and 2020. The PRISMA-ScR checklist was used in the present study as a methodological and quality guideline.

Results:

The most frequent complications were bleeding 61%, tracheal stenosis 28.5%, decannulation 23.6% (5/21) , stoma infection 19%, death 19%, and difficult tracheostomy tube insertion 19%. Regarding mechanical risk factors, only the use of the Bjork flap (OR=0.4) was identified as a protective factor. Among the non-mechanical factors, obesity (OR=5.15), tube diameter >6 (OR=2.6), and preoperative mechanical ventilation (OR=3.14) were found.

Conclusions:

It was possible to identify that the highest incidence of tracheostomy-related complications were bleeding, tracheal stenosis, accidental decannulation, and death; however, it is still unknown whether they originate from a mechanical or non-mechanical cause during intensive care management.

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