Percutaneous tracheostomy can be safely performed in patients with uncorrected coagulopathy after cardiothoracic surgery

OBJECTIVE: It is a common situation after cardiothoracic surgery that a tracheostomy is required for patients who are coagulopathic or on therapeutic anticoagulation. We present our results of percutaneous tracheostomy with uncorrected coagulopathy. METHODS: Between 2007 and 2012, a total of 149 patients in our Cardiothoracic Surgical Intensive Care Unit underwent percutaneous tracheostomy using the Ciaglia Blue Rhino system (Cook Medical, Bloomington, IN USA). The patients were divided into coagulopathic (platelets, ≤50,000; international normalized ratio of prothrombin time, ≥1.5; and/or partial thromboplastin time, ≥50) and noncoagulopathic groups. Coagulopathy, if present before percutaneous tracheostomy, was not routinely corrected. RESULTS: A total of 75 patients (49%) were coagulopathic. Twenty-one patients (14%) had two or more criteria. The coagulopathic patients had a lower platelet count [108 (106) vs 193 (111) (thousands), P < 0.001], with the lowest of 10; higher international normalized ratio of prothrombin time [1.7 (0.6) vs 1.2 (0.1), P < 0.001], with the highest of 5.3; longer partial thromboplastin time [40 (13) vs 33 (7) seconds, P < 0.001], with the longest of 85; and higher total bilirubin [4.6 (7.3) vs 1.9 (3.3) mg/dL, P = 0.005]. Patient demographics and comorbidities were comparable between the groups. No patients had overt bleeding. One coagulopathic patient (1.3%) had clinical oozing treated with packing, as opposed to zero in the noncoagulopathic patients (P = 1.00). There were no patients with posttracheostomy mediastinitis or late tracheal stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: Uncorrected coagulopathy and therapeutic anticoagulation did not increase bleeding risk for percutaneous tracheostomy in our cardiothoracic surgical patients.