Year in review in Intensive Care Medicine 2012. II: Pneumonia and infection, sepsis, coagulation, hemodynamics, cardiovascular and microcirculation, critical care organization, imaging, ethics and legal issues.

Journal ArticleSCOPUS: re.jSCOPUS: re.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Zero expiratory pressure and low oxygen concentration promote heterogeneity of regional ventilation and lung densities

BackgroundIt is not well known what is the main mechanism causing lung heterogeneity in healthy lungs under mechanical ventilation. We aimed to investigate the mechanisms causing heterogeneity of regional ventilation and parenchymal densities in healthy lungs under anesthesia and mechanical ventilation. MethodsIn a small animal model, synchrotron imaging was used to measure lung aeration and regional-specific ventilation (sV.). Heterogeneity of ventilation was calculated as the coefficient of variation in sV. (CVsV.). The coefficient of variation in lung densities (CVD) was calculated for all lung tissue, and within hyperinflated, normally and poorly aerated areas. Three conditions were studied: zero end-expiratory pressure (ZEEP) and FIO2 0.21; ZEEP and FIO2 1.0; PEEP 12 cmH(2)O and F(I)O(2)1.0 (Open Lung-PEEP = OLP). ResultsThe mean tissue density at OLP was lower than ZEEP-1.0 and ZEEP-0.21. There were larger subregions with low sV. and poor aeration at ZEEP-0.21 than at OLP: 12.9 9.0 vs. 0.6 +/- 0.4% in the non-dependent level, and 17.5 +/- 8.2 vs. 0.4 +/- 0.1% in the dependent one (P = 0.041). The CVsV. of the total imaged lung at PEEP 12 cmH(2)O was significantly lower than on ZEEP, regardless of FIO2, indicating more heterogeneity of ventilation during ZEEP (0.23 +/- 0.03 vs. 0.54 +/- 0.37, P = 0.049). CVD changed over the different mechanical ventilation settings (P = 0.011); predominantly, CVD increased during ZEEP. The spatial distribution of the CVD calculated for the poorly aerated density category changed with the mechanical ventilation settings, increasing in the dependent level during ZEEP. ConclusionZEEP together with low FIO2 promoted heterogeneity of ventilation and lung tissue densities, fostering a greater amount of airway closure and ventilation inhomogeneities in poorly aerated regions.Peer reviewe

Measurement of end-expiratory lung volume in intubated children without interruption of mechanical ventilation

Purpose: Monitoring end-expiratory lung volume (EELV) is a valuable tool to optimize respiratory settings that could be of particular importance in mechanically ventilated pediatric patients. We evaluated the feasibility and precision of an intensive care unit (ICU) ventilator with an in-built nitrogen washout/wash