The natural history of COVID-19 is still poorly understood. Patients can have a wide spectrum of illnesses from mild rhinitis to multi organ failure and death. The incidence of a severe form of disease can be attributed to many risk factors like advanced age, immunocompromised state and presence of comorbid conditions and late presentation. Here, we report the processes and findings of a patient who underwent tracheostomy followed by bronchoscopy for COVID-19 accompanied by respiratory failure. Elective tracheostomy is not usually advocated for COVID-19 patients who need prolonged intubation. However, patients with poor prognosis who need prolonged ventilator support are advised to undergo elective planned tracheostomy with experienced anesthesia and surgical team in order to reduce the operating time, chance of complications and risk of aerosol generation and transmission of disease.

Nikhil Sivanand has completed his MBBS from the Amrita School of Medicine under the prestigious Amrita Viswa Vidyapetham University and Masters from Rajiv Gandhi Univerity of health and allied sciences in Karnataka, Following which he has completed fellowship in basic otology and is a fellow of European board of Otorhinolaryngology in MAy 2022. He has more than 4 years of experience as a post graduate teacher and has more than 10 publications to his credit. He has been serving as an editorial board member and reviewer of several reputed journals.