The care of patients with a surgically modified airway, such as tracheostomy or laryngectomy, represents a challenge for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

 

The objective was to review available publications and practice guidelines on management of tracheostomy and laryngectomy in the context of COVID-19.

 

 This study performed a review and synthesis of information available in the PubMed database and from national SLP organizations across 6 countries.

 

From the search, 22 publications on tracheostomy and 3 referring to laryngectomy were identified.

After analysis of titles and abstracts followed by full-text review, 4 publications were identified as presenting guidelines for specific approaches to tracheostomy and were selected; all 3 publications on laryngectomy were selected.