Tracheostomy practice and timing in traumatic brain-injured patients: a CENTER-TBI study

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Chiara Robba
  • Stefania Galimberti
  • Francesca Graziano
  • Eveline J.A. Wiegers
  • Hester F. Lingsma
  • Carolina Iaquaniello
  • Nino Stocchetti
  • David Menon
  • Giuseppe Citerio
  • Cecilia Åkerlund
  • Krisztina Amrein
  • Nada Andelic
  • Lasse Andreassen
  • Audny Anke
  • Gérard Audibert
  • Philippe Azouvi
  • Maria Luisa Azzolini
  • Ronald Bartels
  • Ronny Beer
  • Bo Michael Bellander
  • Habib Benali
  • Maurizio Berardino
  • Luigi Beretta
  • Erta Biqiri
  • Morten Blaabjerg
  • Stine Borgen Lund
  • Camilla Brorsson
  • Andras Buki
  • Manuel Cabeleira
  • Alessio Caccioppola
  • Emiliana Calappi
  • Maria Rosa Calvi
  • Peter Cameron
  • Guillermo Carbayo Lozano
  • Marco Carbonara
  • Ana M. Castaño-León
  • Giorgio Chevallard
  • Arturo Chieregato
  • Mark Coburn
  • Jonathan Coles
  • Jamie D. Cooper
  • Marta Correia
  • Endre Czeiter
  • Marek Czosnyka
  • Claire Dahyot-Fizelier
  • Véronique De Keyser
  • Vincent Degos
  • Martin Fabricius
  • Kondziella, Daniel
  • David Nelson
  • The CENTER-TBI ICU Participants and Investigators

Purpose: Indications and optimal timing for tracheostomy in traumatic brain-injured (TBI) patients are uncertain. This study aims to describe the patients’ characteristics, timing, and factors related to the decision to perform a tracheostomy and differences in strategies among different countries and assess the effect of the timing of tracheostomy on patients’ outcomes. Methods: We selected TBI patients from CENTER-TBI, a prospective observational longitudinal cohort study, with an intensive care unit stay ≥ 72 h. Tracheostomy was defined as early (≤ 7 days from admission) or late (> 7 days). We used a Cox regression model to identify critical factors that affected the timing of tracheostomy. The outcome was assessed at 6 months using the extended Glasgow Outcome Score. Results: Of the 1358 included patients, 433 (31.8%) had a tracheostomy. Age (hazard rate, HR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.01–1.07, p = 0.003), Glasgow coma scale ≤ 8 (HR = 1.70, 95% CI = 1.22–2.36 at 7; p < 0.001), thoracic trauma (HR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.01–1.52, p = 0.020), hypoxemia (HR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.05–1.79, p = 0.048), unreactive pupil (HR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.27–2.45 at 7; p < 0.001) were predictors for tracheostomy. Considerable heterogeneity among countries was found in tracheostomy frequency (7.9–50.2%) and timing (early 0–17.6%). Patients with a late tracheostomy were more likely to have a worse neurological outcome, i.e., mortality and poor neurological sequels (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.07–2.67, p = 0.018), and longer length of stay (LOS) (38.5 vs. 49.4 days, p = 0.003). Conclusions: Tracheostomy after TBI is routinely performed in severe neurological damaged patients. Early tracheostomy is associated with a better neurological outcome and reduced LOS, but the causality of this relationship remains unproven.

Original languageEnglish
JournalIntensive Care Medicine
Volume46
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)983-994
ISSN0342-4642
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Research areas

  • Mechanical ventilation, Outcome, Tracheostomy, Traumatic Brain Injury

ID: 253444250