Short-term Outcome of Early Tracheostomy in the Trauma Patients Admitted to Intensive Care Unit: A Comparative Study.

OBJECTIVES To compare the results of early versus late tracheostomy in trauma patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS  This was case control study being performed at a major trauma centre in Shiraz, Iran including 120 trauma patients admitted to ICU during a 2-year period and underwent tracheostomy during their ICU stay. The patients were categorized into two groups of the early tracheostomy who underwent tracheostomy within the first 7 days of initiation of mechanical ventilation (n=60), and the late tracheostomy group, in which tracheostomy was performed after 7 days (n=60). The duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU stay and hospital stay as well as mortality rates in ICU and hospital were recorded and compared between two study groups. RESULTS The baseline characteristics such as age (p=0.325), sex (p=0.071), Glasgow coma scale (GCS) (p=0.431) and the mechanism of injury (p=0.822) were comparable between two study groups. Early tracheostomy was associated with a significantly shorter duration  of mechanical ventilation (p=0.008) and shorter ICU stay (p=0.003). Hospital stay (p=0.165), ICU mortality (p=0.243), and hospital mortality (p=0.311) were not different between the two study groups. CONCLUSION  Early tracheostomy is associated with reduced ICU stay and shorter duration  of mechanical ventilation. Adopting a standardized strategy may improve resource utilization.