RESUMO
Obesity poses particular challenges to adequate mechanical ventilation in addition to surgical constraints, primarily by restricted lung mechanics due to excessive adiposity, frequent respiratory comorbidities (i.e. sleep apnea, asthma), and concerns of postoperative respiratory depression and other pulmonary complications. Patients with known pulmonary or cardiovascular disease were excluded. The investigations included ASAphysical status 1 or 2 patients, scheduled for abdominal surgery. Patients were considered for inclusion in the trial if they were over 18 yr age. Ventilation with larger tidal volumes with isocapnia maintained with added apparatus dead space increases the tension of oxygen and sevoflurane in arterial blood in overweight patients. Further studies are needed to better define optimum protective ventilation strategies and analyze their impact on the perioperative outcomes of surgical patients with obesity.