2017
July
A legend writes on the damage we do!
- Therefore, a more complete and individually personalized understanding of ARDS lung mechanics and its interaction with the ventilator is needed to improve future care.
- Knowledge of functional lung size would allow the quantitative estimation of strain.
- The determination of lung inhomogeneity/stress raisers would help assess local stresses; the measurement of lung recruitability would guide PEEP selection to optimize lung size and homogeneity.
- Finding a safety threshold for mechanical power, normalized to functional lung volume and tissue heterogeneity, may help precisely define the safety limits of ventilating the individual in question.
- When a mechanical ventilation set cannot be found to avoid an excessive risk of VILI, alternative methods (such as the artificial lung) should be considered.
Carefully does it! PEEP titration…
- In patients with severe respiratory failure, titrating positive end-expiratory pressure against the severity of hypoxemia, or providing it in a decremental fashion after a recruitment maneuver, is recommended.
- If high plateau, driving or mean airway pressures are observed, prone positioning or ultraprotective ventilation may be indicated to improve oxygenation without additional stress and strain in the lung.
Make sure you ‘Prone Safe’
- The use of the checklist when performing the prone maneuver increased the safety and reliability of the procedure.
- The team’s understanding of the tool’s importance to patient safety and training in its use are necessary for its success.
