EXtubation related complications - an international observational study To Understand impact and BEst practices - the EXTUBE study

Each year, over 200 million people require a breathing tube as part of general anesthesia for surgery or as a life-saving intervention in critical illnesses. Once the patient has recovered, the breathing tube is removed, a process called ‘extubation’. While routinely performed, extubation is a delicate and high-risk procedure. Rough estimates show that extubation does not go smoothly in 10-30% of cases. When extubation does not go smoothly, oxygen delivery to the brain and body can be interrupted, sometimes leading to complications like cardiac arrest, brain damage, or death. Despite the frequency of extubation and the potential for life-altering complications, we lack systematic data on the rate and circumstances under which these complications occur. This data is needed to design targeted interventions to prevent complications due to extubation. We will conduct the EXTUBE study, the first systematic, large, international study of extubation complications. EXTUBE will examine data from 3,000 patients from over 60 hospitals around the world to examine how extubation is performed, how often extubation causes different types of complications, and what factors cause these complications. Our study findings may suggest the need to update extubation guidelines, and inform future studies to prevent poor outcomes, improve patient safety, and reduce the burden that such complications pose on health care systems.