ABSTRACT
METHODS: Fifteen patients electively selected for percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy as performed with the Ciaglia Percutaneous Tracheostomy Introducer Set are reported in this preliminary study. RESULTS: The median time for insertion of the tracheostomy tube was 13.9 min. Complications were cuff puncture of the translaryngeal tube at an early stage of the procedure in one case, and minor bleeding controllable by the compressible effect of the dilatational procedure in three cases. During the posttracheostomy period, complications were one case of minor bleeding controllable by digital compression and one case of minor infection, i.e. cellulitis in a few millimetres around the stoma without purulent secretion. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results indicate the technique as performed with the Ciaglia Introducer Set to be effective and safe with only minor complications. Furthermore, we now use it as a bedside procedure in the ICU, thus avoiding the transportation of critically ill patients to the operating theatre. The conclusion of the superiority of percutaneous tracheostomy to dissectional tracheostomy has to await clinical randomized studies, including more patients.
Subject(s)
Tracheostomy/methods , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Tracheostomy/adverse effectsABSTRACT
The aim of the present study was to evaluate which of the various parameters of semen analysis that are most significantly related to the obtainment of pregnancy. A follow up questionnaire was sent to 1953 couples, who had been examined for infertility, and 1,480 (76%) replied. We focused on 713 of these couples, in whom the female partner had a normal fertility set-up (potentially fertile). This study suggests that sperm vitality and sperm concentration bear the most significant relation to pregnancy. Evaluation of a couple's fertility potential by means of the life-table method shows a gradual increase in the pregnancy rate of all couples, irrespective of semen quality, during a observation period of 10 years. The pregnancy rate after 5 years was 14% in a group with reduced semen quality and 44% in a group with normal semen quality.
