Objective: To determine the appropriateness of postoperative chest radiography after adult tracheotomy.
Design: Retrospective case series.
Setting: Tertiary care academic medical center.
Patients: The records of 379 consecutive adult patients who underwent tracheotomy by the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Service from January 1992 to December 1996 were available for review and met inclusion criteria. All patients underwent postoperative chest radiography.
Main outcome measures: Frequency of postoperative tracheotomy-associated complications, most significantly pneumothorax.
Results: The patients had no pneumothorax on postoperative chest films. Minor complications, which were found in 7.1% of the patients, included small bleeds, wound infection, and subcutaneous emphysema. Tracheostomy-associated death occurred in 2 patients (0.5%).
Conclusions: Routine postoperative chest radiography is unnecessary after adult tracheotomy. Chest radiography may be indicated by clinically suspicious signs or symptoms.