Prospective Observational Study of Early Tracheostomy Role in Operated Severe Head Injury Patients at A Level 1 Trauma Center

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the early tracheostomy on operated patients with severe head injury. METHODS: This prospective observational study was conducted at a level 1 trauma center and medical college over one-year period. The study included all surgically managed severe head injury patients without any other life-threatening major injuries. Patients who underwent tracheostomy within 7 days were classified as early tracheostomy. RESULTS: The patient’s mean age of this cohort study was 43.4±14.5 years. Motor-vehicle accidents were being the most common cause of severe head injury. Operated patients were undergoing early tracheostomy on an average of 2.9 days. We were observed that the patients spent on a mechanical ventilation on an average 3.67±2.26 days. This was significantly lower than previous four published studies (p<0.05) which had a range of mean 9.8-15.7 days. CONCLUSION: We have shown that it is possible to decrease mechanical ventilation (MV) time, intensive care unit (ICU) stay and total hospital stay by doing early tracheostomy in operated severe head injury patients.