Preventative Dressings Reduce Postoperative Tracheostomy-Related Pressure Injury

In the early 15th century, Italian physician Antonio Musa Brasslova performed the first successful tracheostomy procedure to relieve airway obstruction caused by enlarged tonsils.¹  Standardized in the early 1900s by otolaryngologist Chevalier Jackson, the procedure is now used frequently in the pediatric population to provide a safe airway for children with respiratory compromise or failure or those with airway obstruction.¹  Of the 100 000 tracheostomies performed annually, approximately 4000 are performed on children, with one-third on infants, specifically premature infants.¹  The availability of technically advanced ventilation equipment for invasive and noninvasive airway management has allowed many more infants and children to survive a serious illness than in the past.¹  Many children require prolonged intubation as a result of chronic respiratory failure and inability to wean from ventilator support, contributing to acquired tracheomalacia (breakdown of the rigid tracheal structures) and acquired subglottic stenosis (weakening of the area...