COVIDTrach; A UK cohort study of tracheostomy in COVID-19 patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
COVIDTrach; a UK national cohort study of mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients undergoing tracheostomy
IRAS ID
285019
Contact name
Nicholas Hamilton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/0000/00/00, UCL data protection registration
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
When COVID-19 leads to a severe infection in the lung patients need to be placed on a ventilator. Clinical practice before the pandemic was for patients who were expected to be on the ventilator for over 7 days to undergo a tracheostomy, a surgical procedure to put a breathing tube through the neck into the windpipe. It is uncertain whether patients with COVID-19 also benefit from this operation due to the severity of their respiratory illness and high death rate. Furthermore, there is concern that opening the airway through the tracheostomy puts health care professionals performing the procedure at risk of being infected by the corona virus.
COVIDTrach is collaborative project by surgeons and intensive care doctors that looks at the outcomes of ventilated COVID-19 patients undergoing tracheostomy and evaluates the use of personal protective equipment and rate of COVID-19 infection amongst operators. So far data on 800 patients have been entered in an online database as part of a national audit and service evaluation; this proposal focuses on expanding and completing this database to answer research focused questions on the safety and effectiveness of tracheostomy in COVID-19.REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/HRA/3766
Date of REC Opinion
20 Aug 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion