Patients undergoing cardiac surgery remain on mechanical ventilation postoperatively until they regain consciousness. Positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) may influence the duration of mechanical ventilation after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The aim of this study was to compare the effects of different levels of PEEP on the duration of mechanical ventilation after coronary artery...

BACKGROUND Mortality after pneumonia in immunocompromised patients is higher than for immunocompetent patients. The use of non-invasive mechanical ventilation for patients with severe pneumonia may provide beneficial outcomes while circumventing potential complications associated with invasive mechanical ventilation. The aim of our study was to determine if the use of non-invasive mechanical ve...

The number of patients who receive mechanical ventilation as life support is rapidly increasing due to improvements in life saving medical therapy in critically ill patients, an aging population and the expanded use of aggressive surgical procedures. The historic annualized increase in prolonged mechanical ventilation use in the U.S. is approximately 5.5% compared with a 1% per annum increase i...

Currently available noninvasive methods for measuring inspiratory resistance (RI) are difficult to implement or interpret during assisted mechanical ventilation on account of the confounding effect of respiratory efforts (Pmus). We propose a simple method consisting of brief reductions in airway pressure (Paw) in the early part of the inflation phase (pulse). Paw, flow (V), and volume (V) are m...

BACKGROUND This clinical practice guideline addresses six questions related to liberation from mechanical ventilation in critically ill adults. It is the result of a collaborative effort between the American Thoracic Society and the American College of Chest Physicians. METHODS A multidisciplinary panel posed six clinical questions in a Population, Intervention, Comparator, and Outcomes forma...

Invasive mechanical ventilation is a lifesaving intervention for patients with respiratory failure. The most commonly used modes of mechanical ventilation are assist-control, synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation, and pressure support ventilation. When employed as a diagnostic tool, the ventilator provides data on the static compliance of the respiratory system and airway resistance. ...

criterion for assessment of observed variability. Given an inherent variability of +20% for each method under comparison, the combined variability (i.e. limits of agreement) should not exceed +30% of the mean SVV. Applying these strict criteria to the data, agreement of methods studied by the authors was unacceptable. Secondly, the authors compared SV derived from different methods at specified...