UNLABELLED The use of an inspiratory impedance threshold valve (ITV) during active compression-decompression (ACD) cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) improves perfusion pressures, and vital organ blood flow. We evaluated the effects of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on gas exchange, and coronary perfusion pressure gradients during ACD + ITV CPR in a porcine cardiac arrest model. All a...

INTRODUCTION Atelectasis and distal airway closure are common clinical entities of general anaesthesia. These two phenomena are expected to reduce the ventilation of dependent lung regions and represent major causes of arterial oxygenation impairment in anaesthetic conditions. In the present study, the behavior of the elastance of the respiratory system (Ers), as well as the lung aeration asses...

Phasic respiratory bursting in the facial nerve (FN) can be uncoupled from phrenic bursting by application of 9 cmH(2)O positive end-expired pressure (PEEP). This response reflects excitation of expiratory-inspiratory (EI) and preinspiratory (Pre-I) facial neurons during the Pre-I period and inhibition of EI neurons during inspiration (I). Because activation of pulmonary C-fiber (PCF) receptors...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES In acute respiratory discomfort syndrome (ARDS) patients, prone position improves oxygenation in more than 70% of the cases. It is well known that prone position promotes a lot of pulmonary changes, including pulmonary mechanics, so we hypothesized that there is the necessity to optimize the ventilatory parameters after the patient is placed in prone position, especial...

The determinants of barotrauma in mechanically ventilated patients with acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) have not been clearly established. Using data from ARDS Network randomized controlled trials, we retrospectively examined the association between airway pressures and the risk of early barotrauma in a cohort of 718 patients with ALI/ARDS and no baseline bar...

Catheterization of the internal jugular vein (IJV) remains difficult in pediatric populations. Increasing the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the IJV facilitates cannulation and decreases complications. We aimed to evaluate the Trendelenburg position and the levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) at which the maximum increase of CSA of the IJV occurred in children undergoing cardiac su...

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) isa severehealthproblem,and,acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) a major complication.1 Early noninvasive ventilation (NIV) may improve gas exchange and outcome in selected patients during AHRF.2 Anjos CF et al3 describe noninvasive PEEP effects on gas exchange and clinical variables in 30 AIDS patients during AHRF, in randomized sequence. They o...

OBJECTIVES A recent individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis suggested that patients with moderate or severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) benefit from higher positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) ventilation strategies. However, thresholds for continuous variables (eg, hypoxaemia) are often arbitrary and linearity assumptions in regression approaches may not hold; the multiva...

INTRODUCTION Mechanical ventilation with high positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) has been used in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH), but the role of PEEP in minimizing lung injury remains controversial. We hypothesized that in the presence of acute lung injury (ALI) with IAH: 1) higher PEEP levels improve pulmonary morphofunctio...

BACKGROUND Intra-organ and intra-vascular pressures can be used to estimate intra-abdominal pressure. The aim of this prospective, interventional study was to assess the effect of PEEP on the accuracy of pressure estimation at different measurement sites in a model of increased abdominal pressure. METHODS Catheters for pressure measurement were inserted into the stomach, urinary bladder, peri...