Anaesthesia risks during airway endoscopy for children with a tracheostomy

Complications Related to the Anaesthesia During Airway Endoscopy in Children With Tracheostomy.

Observational Karolinska Institutet · NCT06906263

We will see how often children with a tracheostomy have serious anesthesia problems when they undergo surveillance airway endoscopy.

Quick facts

Study typeObservational
Enrollment80 (estimated)
AgesN/A to 18 Years
SexAll
SponsorKarolinska Institutet Academic / other
Locations1 site (Solna)
Trial IDNCT06906263 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

This is an observational project at the Long-term Intensive Care Unit (LIVA) at Karolinska that follows children under 18 with tracheostomies who undergo elective surveillance airway endoscopy under general anesthesia. Investigators will record the incidence of severe anesthesia-related complications during these procedures and collect patient factors such as age at tracheostomy, age at endoscopy, ventilator dependence, and prior tracheostomy-related airway problems. Emergency airway procedures are excluded, and cases with concurrent major surgery will be included but omitted from postoperative symptom analyses. Data will be used to explore whether certain patient characteristics are associated with higher complication rates.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Children under 18 with a tracheostomy who are scheduled for elective surveillance airway endoscopy under general anesthesia are eligible.

Not a fit: Children undergoing emergency airway endoscopy or those having major concurrent surgery during the same session may not benefit from this study's findings.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, the results could help clinicians identify higher-risk children and personalize surveillance scheduling and anesthetic planning to improve safety.

How similar studies have performed: There are few large prior studies specifically measuring anesthesia complication rates in children with tracheostomy, so this observational approach is relatively novel for this group.

Eligibility criteria

Show full inclusion / exclusion criteria
All patients:

under the age of 18 years with tracheostomy undergoing surveillance airway endoscopy approved for anesthesia

will be included within the time frame of the study (3 years). Patients may be included multiple times during the study period.

Exclusion Criteria:

Patients will be excluded from the study if the airway endoscopy is a non-elective emergency procedure.

Patients undergoing concurrent major surgery during the same session will be included in the study but excluded from analysis of postoperative symptoms (secondary outcome measure). This is because postoperative well-being cannot be reliably attributed to the airway endoscopy alone when major surgery is performed simultaneously.

The same patient may be eligible for inclusion at multiple time points during the inclusion period if subject to subsequent airway endoscopies that meet the inclusion criteria.

Where this trial is running

Solna

Study contacts

How to participate

  1. Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
  2. Visit the official trial page on ClinicalTrials.gov for the most current contact information and recruitment status.
  3. Contact the listed study coordinator or principal investigator to request pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.
Conditions Anesthesia ComplicationTracheostomy ComplicationsChildren Receiving General AnesthesiaTracheostomyPediatricAnesthesia complicationgeneral anesthesia
Last reviewed 2026-06-13 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.