Tracheostomy in trauma patients with rib fractures

Purpose Patients with rib fractures (RF) may require prolonged mechanical ventilation and tracheostomy. Indications for tracheostomy in trauma patients with RF remain debatable. The goal was to delineate characteristics of patients who underwent tracheostomy due to thoracic versus extra-thoracic causes, such as maxillofacial–mandibular injury (MFM), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and cervical vertebrae trauma (CVT), and to analyze clinical outcomes. The predictive values of chest trauma scoring systems for tracheostomy were also evaluated. We hypothesized that tracheostomized patients were more severely injured with more ribs fractured and had more pulmonary co-injuries.