Generally speaking, one has a gut feeling of how long a patient is going to be on mechanical ventilation. Usually around day 7 or 8 I start warning families that a tracheostomy may be in the near future for their loved one and ask if that is something that if the patient knew full and well everything that a tracheostomy would entail, would they want to move forward with the surgical procedure? What outcomes can one expect after a tracheostomy?
This article is a retrospective cohort study where the authors looked at a number of outcomes but primarily mortality. This article is extremely important as it provides data that we can guide those who we take care of with what to expect. In patients 65 years of age or greater, mortality at 30 days is 25%, 90 days is 42% and 1 year is 55%. Those are abysmal numbers and numbers that people should know before putting their loved ones through that. It’s definitely something to think about. Just because we can do some things doesn’t mean we should. For more papers on mechanical ventilation CLICK HERE.
-EJ
Citation
Mehta AB, Walkey AJ, Curran-Everett D, Douglas IS. One-Year Outcomes Following Tracheostomy for Acute Respiratory Failure. Crit Care Med. 2019 Nov;47(11):1572-1581. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000003959. PMID: 31397716; PMCID: PMC7262790.
Link to Article
Link to FULL FREE PDF
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