OBJECTIVES To measure airway pressures during closed system suctioning with the ventilator set to three differing modes of ventilation. METHODS Closed system suctioning was conducted in 16 patients following cardiac surgery. Suctioning was performed using a 14 French catheter with a vacuum level of -500 cmH2O through an 8.0 mm internal diameter endotracheal tube. The lungs were mechanically v...

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and severity of arterial oxygen desaturation during and after endotracheal suctioning in a group of ventilator-dependent patients with acute respiratory failure (the majority of whom had underlying obstructive lung disease) and to evaluate the efficacy of several maneuvers designed to minimize desaturation. The adaptor method presented ob...

OBJECTIVE This study is to test the effectiveness of fiber-optic-guided endotracheal suction catheter (visual sputum suctioning system or VSSS) in dog models. METHODS Dog sputum models were established by administering dimethoate emulsifiable. Twenty-seven intubated dogs were equally randomized into three groups of conventional suctioning (CS) group, VSSS with no supplemental oxygen (VSSS) gr...

BACKGROUND Expiratory rib-cage compression, a chest physiotherapy technique, is well known as the "squeezing" technique in Japan. OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of rib-cage compression on airway-secretion removal, oxygenation, and ventilation in patients receiving mechanical ventilation. SETTING An intensive care unit of an emergency and critical care center at a tertiary-care teaching ...

BACKGROUND In patients undergoing mechanical ventilation, mucus production and secretion is high as a result of the endotracheal tube. Because endotracheal suction in these patients is essential, chest physiotherapy techniques such as expiratory rib cage compression before endotracheal suctioning can be used as a means to facilitate mobilizing and removing airway secretion and improving alveola...

BACKGROUND Endotracheal suctioning is required but can have adverse effects, and could affect cardiorespiratory variables that are used to predict whether the patient is ready for extubation. METHODS In a prospective cohort study in a university hospital's medical intensive care unit, we measured the impact of closed-system suctioning on cardiopulmonary variables in spontaneously breathing pa...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND This clinical study evaluated the effect of a suctioning maneuver on aspiration past the cuff during mechanical ventilation. METHODS Patients intubated for less than 48 hours with a PVC-cuffed tracheal tube, under mechanical ventilation with a PEEP ≥5 cm H2O and under continuous sedation, were included in the study. At baseline the cuff pressure was set at 30 cm H2O. ...