Timing of Tracheotomy in Patients With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: Tracheotomy has played an important role in the treatment of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), the appropriate tracheotomy time will affect the prognosis of patients. However, the timing of tracheostomy after severe TBI remains controversial. To find the optimal time for tracheostomy, the authors compared the effects of early tracheostomy (ET) versus late tracheostomy (LT) on TBI-related outcomes and prognosis. Methods: The clinical data of 98 patients with severe TBI treated by tracheotomy at NICU, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, January 2017 to January 2018, were analyzed retrospectively. According to the time of the tracheotomy during the treatment, the patients were divided into ET group (after admission <3 days) and LT group (>3 days after admission). The NICU stay, hospital stay, long duration of antibiotic use, pneumonia rates, mortality rates, improvement of nerve function, complications of tracheotomy, and treatment cost were compared between the 2 groups. Results: The NICU stay, hospitalization stay, and antibiotic use time of patients in the ET group were shorter than those in the LT group (P<0.05). The pneumonia rates and the cost of hospitalization in the ET group were lower than those in the LT group (P<0.05). The complications of the tracheostomy, mortality, and neurologic function improvements were not statistically significant in the 2 groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: For severe TBI, ET can reduce the NICU stay, hospitalization stay, length of antibiotic use, and reduce the incidence rates of pneumonia and the cost of hospitalization compared with LT, but there is no significant improvement in the mortality rates and neurologic function of patients during hospitalization.