Effect of early tracheostomy on clinical outcomes in critically ill lung transplant recipients

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of early tracheostomy in patients following lung transplantation and to determine its optimal timing and influence on clinical outcomes.

We retrospectively reviewed records of 96 adult patients who underwent lung transplantation at our institution between August 2008 and January 2016. Time-to-tracheostomy was defined based on timing of the procedure: “early” if less than 3 days or “late” if 3 or more days after lung transplantation.

Forty-nine patients (51%) underwent tracheostomy 3.2 ± 1.8 days after lung transplantation. Among these patients, 21 patients (42.9%) underwent early tracheostomy and 28 patients (57.1%) underwent late tracheostomy. Multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated that preoperative performance status was a significant predictor for tracheostomy (p = 0.006, odds ratio 2.72). Patients in the early tracheostomy group began walking (p = 0.003) and oral feeding (p = 0.0006) earlier and had a shorter duration of mechanical ventilation (p = 0.04) and shorter length of intensive care unit (p = 0.01) and hospital stay (p = 0.04) than patients in the late tracheostomy group. No significant differences in postoperative walking (p = 0.06), oral feeding (p = 0.17), or length of hospital stay (p = 0.37) were observed between patients who underwent early tracheostomy and those who did not undergo tracheostomy.

Early tracheostomy following lung transplantation decreased both intensive care and hospital stay, due to improved postoperative recovery, even in patients with poor preoperative conditions. Furthermore, length of hospital stay in patients with early tracheostomy was similar to that of patients without tracheostomy after lung transplantation.