Impact of ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone on pediatric tracheostomy outcomes

To investigate the effectiveness of ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone in reducing granulation tissue post-tracheostomy in pediatric patients. This cohort study examined pediatric patients with a tracheostomy at a single academic institution from 2016 to 2020. Exclusion criteria included: deceased within 1 year ( n  = 38), >16 years of age ( n  = 21), decannulated within 1 year ( n  = 15), lost to follow-up within 1 year ( n  = 6), and revision tracheostomy ( n  = 2). Logistic regression or Wilcoxon rank-sum (α = 0.05) were used to compare demographic and clinical characteristics between patients who did and did not receive ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone within 1 year of their tracheostomy. In this cohort, ( n  = 126, median age 5.2 months, 54.0 % male), 62.7 % received ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone within 1 year, with 27.8 % taking the nebulized form. Granulation tissue occurred in 81.0 % of cases, predominantly peristomal (69.8 %) and suprastomal (34.9 %). Notable complications included accidental decannulation (13.6 %), suprastomal collapse (11.2 %), and bleeding (7.2 %). Although granulation tissue was more common in ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone users (92.4 %) versus non-users (61.7 %) (OR: 7.55, 95 % CI: 2.73–20.9, p  < 0.001), patients exhibited less frequent granulation tissue events after initiation (z = 3.88, p < 0.001). No significant differences in antibiotic resistance ( p  = 1.0) or endocrinology complications ( p  = 0.1) were found between those with and without ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone. We found a statistically significant reduction of granulation tissue incidence with ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone use and no significant differences in antibiotic resistance or endocrinology complications were noted. Future investigation is warranted to explore timing of ciprofloxacin/dexamethasone administration for granulation tissue and its role in managing and preventing tracheostomy complications.