Comperative clinical trial of translaryngeal tracheostomy and forceps dilatational tracheostomy

Percutaneous tracheostomy is a well-established technique in the ICU setting. The methods described by Ciaglia et al. and by Griggs et al. are the most popular and have been advocated by many authors. Translaryngeal tracheostomy (TLT) according to Fantoni and Ripamonti was initially introduced in 1997. The aim of the present study was to assess the difficulties and complications of TLT and forceps dilatational tracheostomy (FDT) in critically ill patients.