Early versus late tracheostomy: what do patients want?

Anna‑Liisa Sutt and John F. Fraser Critical Care Medicine DOI: 10.1186/s13054-023-04443-4

Abstract: The debate around the best timing for performing a tracheostomy remains active. The recent meta-analysis by Premraj et al. failed to find an association between timing of tracheostomy and mortality, ICU or hospital length of stay, or neurological outcomes when analysing data from > 17,000 patients. The main outcomes of interest in this topic have remained the same for decades. Back in 1993 Heffner found it surprising no clear consensus existed on timing of replacing the endotracheal tube with a tracheostomy tube. 30 years later, little has changed. The question must be asked—are we asking the correct questions?