Acute effects of tidal volume strategy on hemodynamics, fluid balance, and sedation in acute lung injury.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of mechanical ventilation with a tidal volume of 6 mL/kg compared with 12 mL/kg predicted body weight on hemodynamics, vasopressor use, fluid balance, diuretics, sedation, and neuromuscular blockade within 48 hrs in patients with acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of a previously conducted randomized, clinical trial. SETTING: Two adult intensive care units at a tertiary university medical center and a large county hospital. PATIENTS: One hundred eleven patients who were enrolled in the National Institutes of Health ARDS Network trial at the University of California, San Francisco. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Compared with 12 mL/kg predicted body weight, treatment with a tidal volume of 6 mL/kg predicted body weight had no adverse effects on hemodynamics. There were also no differences in the need for supportive therapies, including vasopressors, intravenous fluids, or diuretics. In addition, there were no differences in body weight, urine output, and fluid balance. Finally, there was no difference in the need for sedation or neuromuscular blockade between the two tidal volume protocols. CONCLUSIONS: When compared with ventilation with 12 mL/kg predicted body weight, patients treated with the lung-protective 6 mL/kg predicted body weight tidal volume protocol had no difference in their supportive care requirements. Therefore, concerns regarding potential adverse effects of this protocol should not preclude its use in patients with acute lung injury or the acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Acute lung injury and the acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Although ALI/ARDS mortality rates have improved over the last several decades, they remain high, particularly in the geriatric patient population. Although considerable progress has been made in understanding the pathogenesis of the disease, a large number of promising treatments have proven unsuccessful. One exception has been in the area of ventilator management, where a strategy of protective ventilation with low tidal volumes has demonstrated a significant mortality benefit. Basic research continues to help advance our understanding of this complex syndrome and identify interesting new directions of investigation. The results of several large, randomized trials of new ventilatory and pharmacologic strategies currently underway may help identify successful methods of treating this important disease.

Prognostic value of surfactant proteins A and D in patients with acute lung injury.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that in patients intubated for acute lung injury, lower concentrations of surfactant proteins A and D in the pulmonary edema fluid and higher concentrations in the plasma are associated with more severe lung injury and worse clinical outcomes. DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: Intensive care unit patients in a tertiary university hospital and a university-affiliated city hospital. PATIENTS: Thirty-eight intubated, mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients with acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome as defined by the North American European Consensus Conference. INTERVENTIONS: Undiluted pulmonary edema fluid and plasma samples were collected within 24 hrs of endotracheal intubation in all patients. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The concentrations of surfactant proteins A and D were measured in pulmonary edema fluid and in plasma. Plasma surfactant protein A, but not surfactant protein D, was higher in patients with fewer days of unassisted ventilation (p = .03) and in patients with an absence of intact alveolar fluid clearance (p =.03). In contrast, pulmonary edema fluid surfactant protein D, but not surfactant protein A, was lower in patients with worse oxygenation, as measured by the alveolar-arterial oxygen difference (p = .01) and was lower in the patients who died (2646 ng/mL) compared with those who survived (5503 ng/mL; p = .02). CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that reduced pulmonary edema fluid surfactant protein D and elevated plasma surfactant protein A concentrations at the onset of acute lung injury may be associated with more severe disease and worse clinical outcome and may serve as valuable biochemical markers of prognosis.