Temporal Changes in the Epidemiology, Management, and Outcome from ARDS

Temporal Changes in the Epidemiology, Management, and Outcome from ARDS

The frequency of and outcome from ARDS remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2012. Plateau pressure > 29 cmH2O and driving pressure > 14 cmH2O on the first day of mechanical ventilation but not tidal volume > 8... read more

COVID-19 and VILI: Mechanical Power Measurement

COVID-19 and VILI: Mechanical Power Measurement

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for a bedside tool for lung mechanics assessment and ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) monitoring. Mechanical power is a unifying concept including all the components which... read more

Myorelaxants in ARDS patients

Myorelaxants in ARDS patients

Neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) inhibit patient-initiated active breath and the risk of high tidal volumes and consequent high transpulmonary pressure swings, and minimize patient/ ventilator asynchrony in acute respiratory... read more

Airway closure, more harmful than atelectasis in intensive care?

Airway closure, more harmful than atelectasis in intensive care?

Since the mid-1980s, atelectasis has been demonstrated during anesthesia in lung healthy subjects and in intensive care patients suffering from acute respiratory failure and requiring ventilator support. In the latter... read more

Increased Dead Space Ventilation and Refractory Hypercapnia in Patients with COVID-19

Increased Dead Space Ventilation and Refractory Hypercapnia in Patients with COVID-19

We speculate that thromboinflammation with pulmonary microvasculature occlusion leads to a sudden increase in dead space and shunt resulting in severe hypercapnia and hypoxemia in coronavirus disease 2019 patients. Early... read more

Automated vs. Conventional Ventilation in the ICU

Automated vs. Conventional Ventilation in the ICU

Automated ventilation (AV) appears to reduce the incidence and severity of blood oxygen desaturation during daily nursing procedures (DNPs) in comparison to Conventional Ventilation (CV). Of the 265 included patients,... read more

Development of Persistent Respiratory Morbidity in Previously Healthy Children After ARF

Development of Persistent Respiratory Morbidity in Previously Healthy Children After ARF

Persistent respiratory morbidity develops in up to potentially 44% of previously healthy children less than or equal to 24 months old at follow-up after acute respiratory failure (ARF) requiring mechanical ventilation. This... read more

Cardiovascular Phenotypes in Ventilated Patients with COVID-19 ARDS

Cardiovascular Phenotypes in Ventilated Patients with COVID-19 ARDS

Approximately two-thirds of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pneumonia present with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). COVID-19-associated acute cardiac... read more

Transpulmonary Thermodilution Detects Rapid and Reversible Increases in Lung Water Induced by PEEP in ARDS

Transpulmonary Thermodilution Detects Rapid and Reversible Increases in Lung Water Induced by PEEP in ARDS

In ARDS patients, changing the positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) level induced parallel, small and reversible changes in EVLW. These changes were not due to an artefact of the TPTD technique and were likely due to the... read more

The End-expiratory Occlusion Test

The End-expiratory Occlusion Test

There is growing evidence that the end-expiratory occlusion (EEO) test reliably detects preload responsiveness. It is easier to perform than passive leg raising and has less limitations than pulse pressure variations, provided... read more

Prevention and Treatment of ALI with Time-controlled Adaptive Ventilation

Prevention and Treatment of ALI with Time-controlled Adaptive Ventilation

Neither the current lung protect and rest nor open lung approach (OLA) ventilation strategies have been effective at reducing VILI and ARDS-related mortality below that in the ARMA study. For a protective ventilation strategy... read more

Nationwide System to Centralize Decisions Around ECMO Use for Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia in Japan

Nationwide System to Centralize Decisions Around ECMO Use for Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia in Japan

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading in Japan. The number of patients who need extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is expected to increase; however, the clinical characteristics of the patients... read more

Management of COVID-19 Respiratory Distress

Management of COVID-19 Respiratory Distress

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can originate from either the gas or vascular side of the alveolus. Although the portal for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is inhalational, and alveolar infiltrates are commonly... read more

COVID-19 Pneumonia: ARDS or Not?

COVID-19 Pneumonia: ARDS or Not?

Even though it can meet the ARDS Berlin definition, the COVID-19 pneumonia is a specific disease with peculiar phenotypes. Its main characteristic is the dissociation between the severity of the hypoxemia and the maintenance... read more

Is COVID-19 ARDS?

Is COVID-19 ARDS?

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a heterogeneous disease. It presents with a wide range of severity, varying degrees of hypoxemia and varying degrees of pulmonary mechanical impairment. Failure of hypoxemic vasoconstriction... read more

A Better Way of Connecting Multiple Patients to a Single Ventilator

A Better Way of Connecting Multiple Patients to a Single Ventilator

This differential multi-ventilation setup yields increased safety, monitoring and control for each connected patient. In an ideal world, no one treating patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) would have... read more

Splitting Ventilators to Provide Titrated Support to a Large Group of Patients

Splitting Ventilators to Provide Titrated Support to a Large Group of Patients

COVID-19 can out-strip the number of mechanical ventilators available to us. This has led to interest in using a single ventilator to support multiple patients. This post will review the theory and evidence regarding this... read more