Among patients with hypoxaemia after cardiac surgery, the use of an intensive alveolar recruitment strategy compared with a moderate recruitment strategy resulted in less severe pulmonary complications during the hospital stay, according to a randomised clinical trial of postoperative ventilation published in JAMA.

In this trial, conducted by Alcino Costa Leme, RRT, PhD (Hospital Das Clínicas da FMUSP, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) and colleagues, postoperative ventilation with a high PEEP level (157 patients) compared with a lower PEEP level (163 patients) resulted in a significant shift toward less severe pulmonary complications and was associated with a shorter length of intensive care unit stay (3.8 vs. 4.8 days) and hospital stay (10.9 vs. 12.4 days).

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