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Observation
February 21, 2019

Vertebral Bodies, Anterior Erosion, and Compression by Tracheostomy Canula

Author Affiliations
  • 1Pediatric Intensive Care, Raymond Poincaré University Hospital, APHP, Garches, France
  • 2Department of Radiology, Raymond Poincaré University Hospital, APHP, Garches, France
  • 3University Grenoble Alpes & CNRS, TIMC-IMAG, F-38000 Grenoble, France
  • 4Teaching Hospital Pitie-Salpetriere, AP-HP, Paris, France
  • 5Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines University, Versailles, France
JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019;145(4):390-392. doi:10.1001/jamaoto.2018.3882

Tracheostomy can be associated with major complications at any stage of the procedure. Early complications include hemorrhage, embolisms, pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, air embolism, and death.1,2 Late complications are also frequent, such as granuloma, pain, acute obstruction, tracheoinnominate artery fistula, and death.3,4 Until now, vertebral body erosion was not known as a possible complication of tracheostomy. We describe a patient with tracheostomy associated with erosion and compression of the second and the third vertebral bodies owing to cannula conflict. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of vertebral body erosion due to a tracheostomy cannula.

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