Early Versus Late Tracheostomy in Cardiac Surgical Patients: A 12-Year Single Center Experience.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether early tracheostomy is associated with better outcomes in mechanical ventilation-dependent patients after cardiac surgery compared with a late tracheostomy.

DESIGN: Retrospective, observational study.

SETTING: Cardiac surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary care center.

PARTICIPANTS: All patients who underwent tracheostomy after cardiac surgery between 2004 and 2015 were subdivided into the following 2 groups according to the timing of tracheostomy: "early" if the tracheostomy was performed before the 14th postoperative day and "late" from the 14th postoperative day onward.

INTERVENTIONS: Early versus late tracheostomy.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: During the study period, 112 of 5,148 patients (2.2%) underwent tracheostomy after cardiac surgery. Early tracheostomy was performed in 62 patients, and 50 patients underwent late tracheostomy. Both groups of patients were similar in terms of preoperative and intraoperative characteristics, perioperative risk, and postoperative complications. Patients in the early group had a significantly shorter ventilation time (31.3 ± 23.6 v 39.4 ± 22.4 d; p = 0.034), shorter ICU stay (37.7 ± 21.7 v 46.4 ± 25 d; p = 0.025), and a shorter hospital stay (53.4 ± 29.3 v 66.8 ± 38.5 d; p = 0.020). There were no intergroup differences in weaning rates and in-hospital, 3-month, and 1- and 2-year mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: In this study, early tracheostomy after cardiac surgery in patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation was associated with a shorter ventilation time and ICU and hospital stay, but did not result in a lower in-hospital and long-term mortality rate.