Bedside adjustment of proportional assist ventilation to target a predefined range of respiratory effort.

OBJECTIVES During proportional assist ventilation with load-adjustable gain factors, peak respiratory muscle pressure can be estimated from the peak airway pressure and the percentage of assistance (gain). Adjusting the gain can, therefore, target a given level of respiratory effort. This study assessed the clinical feasibility of titrating proportional assist ventilation with load-adjustable gain factors with the goal of targeting a predefined range of respiratory effort. DESIGN Prospective, multicenter, clinical observational study. SETTINGS Intensive care departments at five university hospitals. PATIENTS Patients were included after meeting simple criteria for assisted mechanical ventilation. INTERVENTIONS Patients were ventilated in proportional assist ventilation with load-adjustable gain factors. The peak respiratory muscle pressure, estimated in cm H2O as (peak airway pressure-positive end-expiratory pressure)×[(100-gain)/gain], was calculated from a grid at the bedside. The gain adjustment algorithm was defined to target a peak respiratory muscle pressure between 5 and 10 cm H2O. Additional recommendations were available in case of hypoventilation or hyperventilation. RESULTS Fifty-three patients were enrolled. Median time spent under proportional assist ventilation with load-adjustable gain factors was 3 days (interquartile range, 1-5). Gain was adjusted 1.0 (0.7-1.8) times per day, according to the peak respiratory muscle pressure target range in 91% of cases and because of hypoventilation or hyperventilation in 9%. Thirty-four patients were ventilated with proportional assist ventilation with load-adjustable gain factors until extubation, which was successful in 32. Eighteen patients required volume assist-controlled reventilation because of clinical worsening and need for continuous sedation. One patient was intolerant to proportional assist ventilation with load-adjustable gain factors. CONCLUSIONS This first study assessing the clinical feasibility of titrating proportional assist ventilation with load-adjustable gain factors in an attempt to target a predefined range of effort showed that adjusting the level of assistance to maintain a predefined boundary of respiratory muscle pressure is feasible, simple, and often sufficient to ventilate patients until extubation.