• Min Zhu, Wei Zhang, Jia-Ning Wang, Hua Yan, Yang-Kai Li, Bo Ai, Sheng-Lin Fu, and Xiang-Ning Fu.
• Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, PR China.
• Med. Hypotheses. 2009 Nov 1;73(5):821-3.

AbstractUse of body positioning to improve oxygenation in mechanically ventilated patients with acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been well documented. However, neither prone position ventilation nor side lying ventilation has been reported to improve the survival. Whether there is a body position superior to routine supine position or other positions as therapeutic adjunct for ventilated patients with ALI and ARDS? We propose the hypothesis that upright position ventilation may be helpful to improve oxygenation and benefit patients with ALI/ARDS. According to the existing physiologic and pathophysiologic data of upright position investigation, we suppose that improvement of V/Q matching, increased functional residual capacity, alveolar recruitment, accelerated diaphragm recovery, early gastric emptying and enteric feeding may be a potential protect mechanism of upright position ventilation. Whether this can be translated into improvement in patient outcome should be further tested in clinical trial.

11 keywords...

hide…