Journal of the Indian Medical Association
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To find out the incidence of self-extubation in intensive care, to evaluate the factors responsible for it and to identify the predictors of need for re-intubation, a retrospective analysis was conducted among 350 patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit over a two-year period and required ventilatory therapy for more than 48 hours. In all patients who self-extubated, the demographic data, ventilatory parameters before self-extubation (mode of ventilation, inspired oxygen concentration, positive end-expiratory pressure), partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood and inspired oxygen fraction ration (PaO2/FiO2), and the event of re-intubation were noted. These values were compared among patients who were re-intubated and those who were not. ⋯ Of the remaining 4 patients, 3 died within a span of 7 days. Re-intubation after self-extubation should not be considered mandatory. Patients who required re-intubation had lower PaO2/FiO2 than patients who did not.