This is a prospective, randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of early (less than or equal to 72 hours) versus late (10 to 14 days) conversion from endotracheal intubation to percutaneous, dilatational, translaryngeal tracheostomy for mechanical ventilation of traumatic brain injured patients.~The primary efficacy parameter will be the number of days on mechanical ventilation.~Secondary objectives include:~Number of days in the hospital~To assess the incidence of ventilator-acquired pneumonia in each group~To assess the incidence of accidental extubation in each group~To assess the incidence of death in each group
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of early conversion tracheostomy from endotracheal intubation (ET) to percutaneous, dilatational tracheostomy (PDT) in traumatic brain-injured patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation.