Premium
Heat and moisture exchanger cassettes: Results of a quality/safety initiative to reduce postoperative mucus plugging after total laryngectomy
Author(s) -
Ebersole Barbara,
Moran Kathleen,
Gou Jiangtao,
Ridge John,
Schiech Linda,
Liu Jeffrey C.,
Lango Miriam
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.26267
Subject(s) - laryngectomy , medicine , logistic regression , surgery , retrospective cohort study , anesthesia , larynx
Background Tracheal dryness is a concern after total laryngectomy due to the potential for mucus plugs (MP). This study compared heat and moisture exchanger (HME) cassettes to external tracheal humidification (ETH) surrounding MP events. Methods A retrospective comparative cohort study comparing outcomes before/after implementation of a patient safety initiative utilizing HME during post laryngectomy hospitalization. The number of MP events were compared with a pre‐implementation control group using ETH. Patient characteristics were analyzed for correlation with MP. Results The rate of MP was significantly lower in the HME group than ETH (0.13 and 0.38 per 10 inpatient days, respectively, P = .02). The proportion of patients with one or more MP events was also significantly reduced in the HME group (50% ETH and 11% HME, P = .01). Method of humidification was the only significant variable associated with MP on logistic regression modeling ( P = .008). Conclusions HMEs were superior to ETH for prevention of MP.