BACKGROUND Comatose patients with acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) diagnosed as inoperative due to their severe comorbidity will be treated differently between countries. In certain countries including Japan, aggressive medical care may be performed according to the patients' family requests although the effects on the outcome are obscure. For respiratory distress in comatose patients with ...

BACKGROUND Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal, progressive, neurodegenerative disease and most patients affected die of respiratory compromise and/or pneumonia within 2-3 years of diagnosis. As ALS progresses, ventilator assistance is required. In the end stages of the disease, patients suffer from respiratory failure and may become ventilator-dependent. Deaths due to malfunction of...

OBJECTIVE An endotracheal tube (ETT) imposes work of breathing on mechanically ventilated patients. Using a bellows-in-a-box model lung, we compared the tube compensation (TC) performances of the Nellcor Puritan-Bennett 840 ventilator and of the Dräger Evita 4 ventilator. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Each ventilator was connected to the model lung. The respiratory rate of the model lung was set a...

BACKGROUND Mechanical ventilation is delivered to sedated patients during anesthesia, but also to nonsedated patients (ventilator weaning, noninvasive ventilation). In these circumstances, patient-ventilator asynchrony may occur, provoking discomfort and unduly increasing work of breathing. In certain cases, it is associated with an increased inspiratory load. Inspiratory loading in awake human...

The development, manufacturing and deployment of a South African engineered Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Ventilator is described. CSIR L.I.F.E. (Lung Inspiratory Flow Enabler) was developed during the COVID Pandemic in response to need for ventilator solution assist patients suffering from respiratory distress. A supply chain created resulting near fully locally sourced product which 18,...

OBJECTIVES Ventilator-associated pneumonia is the most common intensive care unit-acquired infection. Although there is widespread consensus that evidenced-based interventions reduce the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia, controversy has surrounded the importance of implementing them as a "bundle" of care. This study aimed to determine the effects of implementing such a bundle while contr...

OBJECTIVES To determine risk factors associated with ventilator dependence in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). STUDY DESIGN A retrospective study was conducted at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, from January 1, 2007 to January 31, 2008. METHODS This study evaluated 163 adult patients (aged ≥ 18 years). Eligibility was evaluated according to the criterion for VAP...

BACKGROUND To explore the feasibility of transcutaneous electromyographic respiratory muscle recordings to automatically quantify the synchronicity of patient-ventilator interaction in the pediatric intensive care unit. METHODS Prospective observational study in a tertiary paediatric intensive care unit in an university hospital. Spontaneous breathing mechanically ventilated children < 18 yea...

HYPOTHESIS The use of weaning and sedation protocols affects the intensive care unit (ICU) course of a trauma population. DESIGN Nonrandomized before-after trial. SETTING A level I trauma center. PATIENTS Three hundred twenty-eight consecutive trauma patients receiving mechanical ventilation treated in the ICU between October 1, 1997, and November 1, 1999. INTERVENTION Sedation and wean...

BACKGROUND Although use of the mechanical ventilator is a life-saving intervention, excessive tidal volumes will activate NF-κB in the lung with subsequent induction of lung edema formation, neutrophil infiltration and proinflammatory cytokine/chemokine release. The roles of NF-κB and IL-6 in ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) remain widely debated. METHODS To study the molecular mechanism...