| Sumario: | The ARDS Network low-tidal-volume protocol is considered the standard of care for patients with acute lung injury (ALI) or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The protocol is built on the foundation of low-tidal-volume ventilation, use of a combined PEEP and FIO2 table, and managing alveolar end-inspiratory pressure by limiting the plateau airway pressure to < 30 cm H2O. Although this strategy, to date, is the only method that significantly improves ALI/ARDS survival, alternative methods of improving hypoxemia and minimizing ventilator-induced lung injury, in conjunction with low-tidal-volume ventilation, can be used for life-threatening ARDS. We present a case in which we customized the use of alveolar recruitment maneuvers by analyzing the hysteresis of the pressure-volume curve to assess lung recruitability, decremental PEEP to sustain lung recruitment, and careful use of plateau pressure > 30 cm H2O, which improved our patient's life-threatening hypoxemia within the first 36 min of arrival to our ICU.
|
|---|