BACKGROUND The authors tested the hypothesis that during laparoscopic surgery, Trendelenburg position and pneumoperitoneum may worsen chest wall elastance, concomitantly decreasing transpulmonary pressure, and that a protective ventilator strategy applied after pneumoperitoneum induction, by increasing transpulmonary pressure, would result in alveolar recruitment and improvement in respiratory ...

A simple system for administration of continuous positive airway pressure breathing uses a corrugated hose in the modified Mapleson D system for anaesthesia. The only mechanical component of the system is a spring-loaded valve for positive end expiratory pressure.

BACKGROUND The role of positive end-expiratory pressure in mechanical ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery remains uncertain. Levels of pressure higher than 0 cm H2O might protect against postoperative pulmonary complications but could also cause intraoperative circulatory depression and lung injury from overdistension. We tested the hypothesis that a high level of positive end-ex...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the feasibility and the cardiorespiratory effects of using positive expiratory airway pressure, a physiotherapeutic tool, in comparison with a T-tube, to wean patients from mechanical ventilation. METHODS/DESIGN A prospective, randomized, cross-over study. SETTING Two intensive care units. PATIENTS AND INTERVENTIONS We evaluated forty patients who met weaning crit...

BACKGROUND In surgical procedures, obesity is a risk factor for the onset of intra and postoperative respiratory complications. AIM Determine what moment of application of positive pressure brings better benefits on lung function, incidence of atelectasis and diaphragmatic excursion, in the preoperative, intraoperative or immediate postoperative period. METHOD Randomized, controlled, blinde...

It has been suggested that positive expiratory pressure may assist the clearance of bronchial secretions in the treatment of cystic fibrosis. It has been compared with currently used postural drainage techniques. Three treatment regimens were compared in 18 patients with cystic fibrosis. Treatment A consisted of breathing exercises emphasising inspiration, interspersed with the forced expiratio...

BACKGROUND Acute lung injury (ALI) is known to be associated with the emergence of inspiratory crackles and enhanced transmission of artificial sounds from the airway opening to the chest wall. Recently, we described the effect of ALI on the basic flow-induced breath sounds, separated from the crackles. In this study, we investigated the effects of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on the...

OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of different levels of positive end-expiratory pressure on respiratory mechanics and oxygenation indexes in the immediate postoperative period of coronary artery bypass grafting. METHODS Randomized clinical trial in which 136 patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting between January 2011 and March 2012 were divided into three groups and admitted to me...

The study intended to make a critical review on use of pulmonary hyperventilation maneuvers and the different positive end-expiratory pressures applied to traumatic brain injury patients. As a reference were used publications in English, Spanish and Portuguese, contained in the following databases: MedLine, SciELO and LILACS, from 2000 to 2007, we included all studies about the use of pulmonary...