J Trauma
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Multicenter, randomized, prospective trial of early tracheostomy.
Determine the effect of early (days 3-5) or late (days 10-14) tracheostomy on intensive care unit length of stay (ICU LOS), frequency of pneumonia, and mortality, and evidence of short-term or long-term pharyngeal, laryngeal, or tracheal injury in head trauma, non-head trauma, and critically ill nontrauma patients. ⋯ Physician bias limited patient entry into the study. Although there were higher AIII scores in the head trauma early tracheostomy patients, there were no differences in the primary end points of ICU LOS, pneumonia, or death in any of the groups studied. Long-term endoscopic follow-up was poor, but no known late tracheal stenosis was seen.