• Cassiano Teixeira, Juçara Gasparetto Maccari, Silvia Regina Rios Vieira, Roselaine Pinheiro Oliveira, Augusto Savi, André Sant'Ana Machado, Túlio Frederico Tonietto, Ricardo Viegas Cremonese, Ricardo Wickert, Kamile Borba Pinto, Fernanda Callefe, Fernanda Gehm, Luis Guilherme Borges, and Eubrando Silvestre Oliveira.
• CTI-Adulto, Hospital Moinhos de Vento, Rua Ramiro Barcelos 910, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
• J Bras Pneumol. 2012 May 1;38(3):364-71.

ObjectiveTo determine whether the predictive accuracy of clinical judgment alone can be improved by supplementing it with an objective weaning protocol as a decision support tool.MethodsThis was a multicenter prospective cohort study carried out at three medical/surgical ICUs. The study involved all consecutive difficult-to-wean ICU patients (failure in the first spontaneous breathing trial [SBT]), on mechanical ventilation (MV) for more than 48 h, admitted between January of 2002 and December of 2005. The patients in the protocol group (PG) were extubated after a T-piece weaning trial and were compared with patients who were otherwise extubated (non-protocol group, NPG). The primary outcome measure was reintubation within 48 h after extubation.ResultsWe included 731 patients-533 (72.9%) and 198 (27.1%) in the PG and NPG, respectively. The overall reintubation rate was 17.9%. The extubation success rates in the PG and NPG were 86.7% and 69.6%, respectively (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of age, gender, severity score, or pre-inclusion time on MV. However, COPD was more common in the NPG than in the PG (44.4% vs. 17.6%; p < 0.001), whereas sepsis and being a post-operative patient were more common in the PG (23.8% vs. 11.6% and 42.4% vs. 26.4%, respectively; p < 0.001 for both). The time on MV after the failure in the first SBT was higher in the PG than in the NPG (9 ± 5 days vs. 7 ± 2 days; p < 0.001).ConclusionsIn this sample of difficult-to-wean patients, the use of a weaning protocol improved the decision-making process, decreasing the possibility of extubation failure.

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