• Roberto Tonelli, Andrea Cortegiani, Alessandro Marchioni, Riccardo Fantini, Luca Tabbì, Ivana Castaniere, Emanuela Biagioni, Stefano Busani, Chiara Nani, Caterina Cerbone, Morgana Vermi, Filippo Gozzi, Giulia Bruzzi, Linda Manicardi, Maria Rosaria Pellegrino, Bianca Beghè, Massimo Girardis, Paolo Pelosi, Cesare Gregoretti, Lorenzo Ball, and Enrico Clini.
• Respiratory Diseases Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Hospital of Modena, University of Modena Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
• Crit Care. 2022 Mar 24; 26 (1): 70.

BackgroundExcessive inspiratory effort could translate into self-inflicted lung injury, thus worsening clinical outcomes of spontaneously breathing patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF). Although esophageal manometry is a reliable method to estimate the magnitude of inspiratory effort, procedural issues significantly limit its use in daily clinical practice. The aim of this study is to describe the correlation between esophageal pressure swings (ΔPes) and nasal (ΔPnos) as a potential measure of inspiratory effort in spontaneously breathing patients with de novo ARF.MethodsFrom January 1, 2021, to September 1, 2021, 61 consecutive patients with ARF (83.6% related to COVID-19) admitted to the Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU) of the University Hospital of Modena (Italy) and candidate to escalation of non-invasive respiratory support (NRS) were enrolled. Clinical features and tidal changes in esophageal and nasal pressure were recorded on admission and 24 h after starting NRS. Correlation between ΔPes and ΔPnos served as primary outcome. The effect of ΔPnos measurements on respiratory rate and ΔPes was also assessed.ResultsΔPes and ΔPnos were strongly correlated at admission (R2 = 0.88, p < 0.001) and 24 h apart (R2 = 0.94, p < 0.001). The nasal plug insertion and the mouth closure required for ΔPnos measurement did not result in significant change of respiratory rate and ΔPes. The correlation between measures at 24 h remained significant even after splitting the study population according to the type of NRS (high-flow nasal cannulas [R2 = 0.79, p < 0.001] or non-invasive ventilation [R2 = 0.95, p < 0.001]).ConclusionsIn a cohort of patients with ARF, nasal pressure swings did not alter respiratory mechanics in the short term and were highly correlated with esophageal pressure swings during spontaneous tidal breathing. ΔPnos might warrant further investigation as a measure of inspiratory effort in patients with ARF.Trial RegistrationNCT03826797 . Registered October 2016.© 2022. The Author(s).

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