Bobbi Kristina Brown, who has been kept on life support for the last few weeks, has reportedly had her breathing tube removed.

Bobbi Kristina’s Breathing Tube

Doctors removed Bobbi Kristina’s breathing tube earlier this week, sources told CNN. She has undergone a tracheostomy and will now be ventilated via a hole in her throat. The procedure is common for patients who are expected to remain on some form of life support for an extended period of time.

“If the expectation is she’s going to be on for weeks, months – who knows how long, the best way to deliver oxygen to the lungs is through the tracheostomy,” Dr. Jordan S. Josephson, an ENT specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital, told USA Today. “It’s a protective measure. There may be a slight scar, but in most cases that’s it.”

The removal of the ventilator and the subsequent tracheostomy give no indication as to the state of Bobbi Kristina’s recovery. In situations such as hers, the tide could turn either way. The procedure was merely a preventive one to stave off infection.

“I’ve seen cases where you think the patient should come out of it and they don’t. And of course there are cases where you’re telling the family the patient may never come out of it and two days later they wake up,” Dr. Josephson explained. “Hopefully this is something that will be short for her and a speedy recovery is on the way.”

Bobbi Kristina, the daughter of the late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, was found unresponsive in a bathtub in her Georgia area home on Jan. 31. She’s been hospitalized and on life support ever since. It’s unknown why she was unconscious or whether or not foul play was involved. There’s currently an investigation looking into her boyfriend Nick Gordon.