Lung imaging for titration of mechanical ventilation

Abstract PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Computed tomography (CT) has fostered pivotal advancements in the understanding of acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome and ventilator-induced lung injury. Apart from CT-based studies, the past years have seen fascinating work using positron emission tomography, electrical impedance tomography and lung ultrasound as diagnostic tools to optimize mechanical ventilation. This review aims to present the major findings of recent studies on lung imaging. RECENT FINDINGS: Patients presenting with a focal loss of aeration on CT may not be suitable candidates for recruitment maneuvers and high levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) in supine position. PET/CT has provided valuable insights into the inflammatory response of the lung. Electrical impedance tomography has been used to assess lung recruitability and to titrate PEEP. Finally, lung ultrasound has proven to be reliable diagnostic tool for assessing PEEP-induced recruitment. SUMMARY: Whereas quantitative CT remains the gold standard to assess lung morphology, recruitment and hyperinflation of lung tissue at different inflation pressures, EIT and LUS have emerged as valuable, radiation-free, noninvasive bedside lung imaging tools that should be used together with global parameters like lung mechanics and gas exchange to acquire additional information on recruitability and ventilation distribution

Acute respiratory distress syndrome: We can't miss regional lung perfusion!

In adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), life-threatening hypoxemia may occur, dictating the need for differentiated ventilator strategies. Pronounced consolidation and/or atelectasis have been well documented in ARDS, but the contribution of regional perfusion to oxygenation has been poorly addressed. Evidence has accumulated that, in ARDS, regional perfusion is extremely variable and may affect oxygenation, independently from the amount of atelectatic-consolidated lung regions. Thus, the response in oxygenation to different ventilatory settings, both during controlled and assisted mechanical ventilation, should be interpreted with caution. In fact, gas exchange may be not determined solely by changes in aeration, but also redistribution of perfusion. Furthermore, regional perfusion can play an important role in worsening of lung injury due to increased transmural pressures. In addition, distribution of perfusion in lungs might affect the delivery of drugs through the pulmonary circulation, including antibiotics. In recent years, several techniques have been developed to determine pulmonary blood flow with increasing level of spatial resolution, allowing a better understanding of normal physiology and various pathophysiological conditions, but most of them are restricted to experimental or clinical research. Lung ultrasound and novel algorithms for electrical impedance tomography represent new promising techniques that could enable physicians to assess the distribution of pulmonary blood flow at the bedside. In ARDS, we cannot afford missing regional lung perfusion! Please see related article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12871-015-0013-0