Background: Weaning from mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit is an important step in the treatment process. More patients in less than 6 hours after cardiac surgery can be separated from mechanical ventilation and extubated. However, 20-40% of patients after cardiac surgery, due to dysfunctional ventilator weaning response (DVWR), still remain under mechanical ventilation. Therefo...

OBJECTIVES This research aimed to evaluate the repercussions of specific chest physiotherapy procedures in mean airway resistance and in dynamic compliance in preterm infants in mechanical ventilation. METHODS Eighteen preterm infants in conventional mechanical ventilation were submitted to one session of chest physiotherapy (manual chest compression during expiration + intermittent aspiratio...

OBJECTIVE To compare the effectiveness of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation with conventional mechanical ventilation in pediatric patients with respiratory failure. SETTING Five tertiary care pediatric intensive care units. DESIGN A prospective, randomized, clinical study with crossover. PATIENTS Seventy patients with either diffuse alveolar disease and/or airleak syndrome were rando...

BACKGROUND Post-operative pulmonary complications add to the morbidity and mortality of surgical patients, in particular after general anesthesia >2 hours for abdominal surgery. Whether a protective mechanical ventilation strategy with higher levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) and repeated recruitment maneuvers; the "open lung strategy", protects against post-operative pulmonary ...

Community-acquired necrotizing pneumonia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been reported with increasing frequency in children.1 MRSA pneumonia can be complicated by pleural effusion, empyema, pneumatoceles, respiratory failure, and bronchopleural fistula.1,2 Maintaining adequate gas exchange with conventional mechanical ventilation is often problematic in patient...

The study by Sun et al1 in this issue of RESPIRATORY CARE, comparing high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) and conventional mechanical ventilation, merits close attention because it is one of few studies demonstrating clear benefit from HFOV, relative to conventional mechanical ventilation, in preterm infants. In the study, 336 preterm infants (gestational age 32 weeks, birth weight 1,5...

High-frequency ventilation is the application of mechanical ventilation with a respiratory rate > 100 breaths/min. High-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) is the form of high-frequency ventilation most widely used in adult critical care. The principles of lung-protective ventilation have matured in parallel with the technology for HFOV. The 2 basic principles of lung-protective ventilatio...

INTRODUCTION Independent lung ventilation is a form of protective ventilation strategy used in adult asymmetric acute lung injury, where the application of conventional mechanical ventilation can produce ventilator-induced lung injury and ventilation-perfusion mismatch. Only a few experiences have been published on the use of independent lung ventilation in newborn patients. CASE PRESENTATION...

BACKGROUND Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a monogenetic autosomal recessive multi-organ disease affecting approximately 50,000 patients worldwide. Overall median survival is continually increasing but pulmonary disease remains the most common cause of death. Guidelines have been published in relation to the outpatient maintenance of lung health for CF patients and treatment of acute lung exacerbations...