[Status of tracheotomy in treatment of the respiratory emergency in anaplastic thyroid cancer].

A review is presented on the 69 patients requiring intraoperative tracheotomy amongst 170 patients with locally infiltrating carcinoma of the thyroid operated on over a 30-year period. 55% of these patients underwent this procedure for absolute indications; in 45% of cases it was performed as a prophylactic procedure to prevent later respiratory complications due to further infiltration by the anaplastic tumour. The follow-up showed that there was no benefit for patients with anaplastic neoplasms from this additional procedure. Most of these patients suffered from local wound healing complications so that obligatory postoperative external radiation could not be administered. The overall prognosis was very poor. Survival was significantly lower still in the group of patients in whom tracheotomy had been performed.