A prospective, randomized, study comparing early percutaneous dilational tracheotomy to prolonged translaryngeal intubation (delayed tracheotomy) in critically ill medical patients.

Objective: The timing of tracheotomy in patients requiring mechanical ventilation is unknown. The effects of early percutaneous dilational tracheotomy compared with delayed tracheotomy in critically ill medical patients needing prolonged mechanical ventilation were assessed.

Design: Prospective, randomized study.

Setting: Medical intensive care units.

Patients: One hundred and twenty patients projected to need ventilation >14 days.

Interventions: None.

Measurements And Main Results: Patients were prospectively randomized to either early percutaneous tracheotomy within 48 hrs or delayed tracheotomy at days 14-16. Time in the intensive care unit and on mechanical ventilation and the cumulative frequency of pneumonia, mortality, and accidental extubation were documented. The airway was assessed for oral, labial, laryngeal, and tracheal damage. Early group showed significantly less mortality (31.7% vs. 61.7%), pneumonia (5% vs. 25%), and accidental extubations compared with the prolonged translaryngeal group (0 vs. 6). The early tracheotomy group spent less time in the intensive care unit (4.8 +/- 1.4 vs. 16.2 +/- 3.8 days) and on mechanical ventilation (7.6 +/- 2.0 vs. 17.4 +/- 5.3 days). There was also significantly more damage to mouth and larynx in the prolonged translaryngeal intubation group.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the benefits of early tracheotomy outweigh the risks of prolonged translaryngeal intubation. It gives credence to the practice of subjecting this group of critically ill medical patients to early tracheotomy rather than delayed tracheotomy.