A Study of Positive Long-Term Functional Outcomes with Early Tracheostomy in Ventilated Stroke Patients
Jacksonville, FL
The purpose of this study is to test for the long-term outcomes in function for stroke patients who get an early tracheostomy, versus those who have prolonged orotracheal intubation.
Patients with severe ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, who require mechanical ventilation, have a particularly bad prognosis. If they require long-term ventilation, their orotracheal tube needs to be, like in any other intensive care patient, replaced by a shorter tracheal tube below the larynx. This so called tracheostomy might be associated with advantages such as less demand of narcotics and pain killers, less lesions in mouth and ...