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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2007;31:114-119. doi:10.1016/j.ejcts.2006.10.006
Copyright © 2007, European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A simple modification of Ciaglia Blue Rhino technique for tracheostomy: using a guidewire dilating forceps for initial dilation

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan

Received 19 August 2006; received in revised form 1 October 2006; accepted 9 October 2006.

^_* Corresponding author. Address: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan. Tel.: +886 7 3208159; fax: +886 7 3161210. (Email: sheu{at}kmu.edu.tw).

Objective: The potential difficulty in doing initial dilation in the percutaneous dilational tracheostomy (PDT) with the Ciaglia Blue Rhino (CBR) technique has been reported by others and encountered in our clinical practice. To resolve this problem, we developed a modified CBR technique by using a guidewire dilating forceps (GWDF) to facilitate initial dilation. The present before-and-after comparison study aimed to evaluate the clinical benefits of this modified CBR technique. Methods: Consecutive 120 patients undergoing CBR technique in the pre-conversion year and 114 patients undergoing GWDF-CBR technique in the post-conversion year were enrolled for analysis. The procedure time and procedure-related complications were compared between these two groups. Results: The mean procedure time with GWDF-CBR technique was 4.5 ± 1.6 min, significantly shorter than 5.7 ± 3.0 min with CBR technique (p < 0.001). Only two patients in the GWDF-CBR group required prolonged procedure time (>8 min), compared with 14 patients in the CBR group. Thirty three (27.5%) of 120 patients undergoing CBR technique and 15 (13.1%) of 114 patients undergoing GWDF-CBR technique had PDT-related complications (p = 0.006). Most of the complications were minor and transient. Only 13 patients in the CBR group and 3 patients in the GWDF-CBR group encountered major complications (10.8% vs 2.6%, p = 0.012). Regarding the high-risk patients, 21 (36.2%) of 58 patients in the CBR group and 9 (15.8%) of 57 patients in the GWDF-CBR group had PDT-related complications (p = 0.011). Conclusions: Pre-dilation with a GWDF in the CBR technique helped to prevent prolonged procedure time and procedure-related complications. We suggest that the bronchoscopy-guided GWDF-CBR serves an easy-to-operate and relatively safe PDT technique for critically ill patients.

Key Words: Percutaneous dilational tracheostomy • Ciaglia Blue Rhino • Guidewire dilating forceps • Complications • Bronchoscopy