BACKGROUND Preventing ventilator-associated lung injury (VALI) has become pivotal in mechanical ventilation of patients with acute lung injury (ALI) or its more severe form, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In the present study we investigated whether plasma levels of lung-specific biological markers can be used to evaluate lung injury in patients with ALI/ARDS and patients without l...

Over the past few years, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as an important instrument for functional ventilation imaging. The aim of this review is to summarize established clinical methods and emerging techniques for research and clinical arenas. Before the advent of MRI, chest radiography and computed tomography (CT) dominated morphological lung imaging, while functional ventilatio...

To better understand serotonergic modulation of air breathing during bullfrog development, we measured changes in fictive lung ventilation frequency associated with focal stimulation of the rostral region of the medullary Raphé neurons. Electrical (3 to 33 Hz) and chemical (glutamate microinjections; 0.5 mol l(-1), 0.3-10 nl) activation of Raphé neurons was performed in brainstem preparations f...

The role of preserving spontaneous effort during mechanical ventilation and its interaction with mechanical ventilation have been actively investigated for several decades. Inspiratory muscle activities can lower the pleural components surrounding the lung, leading to an increase in transpulmonary pressure when spontaneous breathing effort is preserved during mechanical ventilation. Thus, incre...

BACKGROUND Initiation of ventilation using high tidal volumes in preterm lambs causes lung injury and inflammation. Antenatal corticosteroids mature the lungs of preterm infants and postnatal corticosteroids are used to treat bronchopulmonary dysplasia. OBJECTIVE To test if antenatal or postnatal corticosteroids would decrease resuscitation induced lung injury. METHODS 129 d gestational age...

The perioperative use and relevance of protective ventilation in surgical patients is being increasingly recognized. Obesity poses particular challenges to adequate mechanical ventilation in addition to surgical constraints, primarily by restricted lung mechanics due to excessive adiposity, frequent respiratory comorbidities (i.e. sleep apnea, asthma), and concerns of postoperative respiratory ...

Introduction Acute lung injury induced by mechanical ventilation [ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI)]is characterized by a particular metabolic profile in the lung and in the systemic compartment [1]. Also, VILI has been associated with an increase in intestinal permeability [2]. We hypothesized that selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) can modulate the metabolic profile as...

Besides being one of the mechanisms responsible for ventilator-induced lung injury, atelectasis also seems to aggravate the course of experimental pneumonia. In this study, we examined the effect of reducing the degree of atelectasis by natural modified surfactant and/or open lung ventilation on bacterial growth and translocation in a piglet model of Group B streptococcal pneumonia. After creat...

There is emerging evidence that the ventilation strategy used in acute lung injury (ALI) makes a significant difference in outcome and that an inappropriate ventilation strategy may produce ventilator-associated lung injury. Most harmful during mechanical ventilation are lung overdistension and lung collapse or atelectasis. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) as a non-invasive imaging technol...

We present the characteristics of a ventilation-perfusion scan correlating to both planar and single photon emission computed tomography and computed tomography (SPECT/CT) images of the lungs in a patient with SwyerJames (MacLeod) syndrome. A Tc-99m MAA lung perfusion scan was recorded with multiple projections and SPECT/CT. In the ventilation scan, initially dynamic acquisition of aerosol Tc-9...