Introduction:

Patients with severe pneumonia due to COVID-19 may require orotra cheal intubation, prolonged mechanical ventilation and tracheostomy. The presence of an artificial airway can generate laryngeal lesions and it is associated with swallowing dysfunction and increased risk of aspiration.

Objective:

The main objective of this study is to describe the prevalence of laryngeal lesions and oropharyngeal dysphagia in critically ill tracheostomized patients due to COVID-19. As a secondary objective, is to evaluate the association between the pres ence of laryngeal injury and dysphagia and each of them with other variables related to the patient’s history, duration of the artificial airway and the prone position maneuver.

Methods:

This is an observational, longitudinal and retrospective study, conducted at the Juan A Fernández Hospital, CABA, Argentina. Tracheostomized patients diag nosed with COVID-19 were consecutively included. The presence of laryngeal lesions and dysphagia was recorded by fibroscopic evaluation of swallowing at the time of decannulation.

Results:

32 patients were analyzed, of which 28 (87.5 %) showed at least one la ryngeal lesion, mainly in the glottic region. The prevalence of dysphagia was 65.6 % (21/32). No significant association was found between laryngeal injuries and dyspha gia (p = 0.70).

Conclusion:

laryngeal injuries and dysphagia were highly prevalent in this cohort of patients. The early evaluation through fibroscopic evaluation of swallowing for the pro tocolized follow-up of these patients, has provided us a timely diagnosis to guide treat ment individually until decannulation and resolution of the dysphagia found.

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