Tracheal infection following oncological surgery in larynx and pharynx

Surgical wound infection is one of the most frequent complications in pharyngo-laryngeal external surgery. They are usually polimicro with gram-positive, negative both aerobial and anaerobial microrganisms. The trachea is usually sterile and contamination is due to the intoduction during intubation of germs from the oropharyngeal area. A retrospective study was performed including 40 patients with pharyngo-laryngeal carcinoma. When the tracheostomy was done a culture from the internal trachea wall was obtained for micro study. Only one patient had an sterile culture from the trachea. There were 3 patients with just one microorganism and all the rest had at least two, being mixed aerobial and anaerobial flora the most frequent.