Weaning indexes do not predict success with non invasive mechanical ventilation in extubation failure

Introduction Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a useful tool in the intensive care unit (ICU) and in mechanical ventilation it has been possible to measure lung collapse that presents after a spontaneous breathing test by measuring lung aeration loss and detecting those patients that probably will fail extubation and assessing the necessity of non invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) as well as those patients that fail the spontaneous breathing test as a weaning method. There is controversy whether the NIMV can help in weaning in patients other than those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).