• G Cinnella, M Dambrosio, N Brienza, R Giuliani, F Bruno, T Fiore, and A Brienza.
• Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, University of Foggia, Italy.
• Intensive Care Med. 2001 Dec 1; 27 (12): 1860-7.

Objectivea) to describe a non-barotraumatic ventilatory setting for independent lung ventilation (ILV); b) to determine the utility of single lung end-tidal CO(2) (EtCO(2)) monitoring to evaluate the ventilation to perfusion (V/Q) matching in each lung during ILV and for ILV weaning.Designprospective study.Settinggeneral intensive care unit in a university teaching hospital.Patientstwelve patients with unilateral thoracic trauma needing ILV.Interventions And ResultsILV was started with each lung ventilated with the same tidal volume (Vt): plateau airway pressure (Pplat) was 34.2+/-3.2 cmH2O in diseased lungs (DL) and 18.1+/-1.9 cmH2O in normal lungs (NL) ( P<0.01). Static compliance (Cst) was 9.9+/-1.1 ml/cmH(2)O in DL and 19.3+/-1.7 ml/cmH(2)O in NL ( P<0.01). EtCO2 was 22.5+/-2.2 mmHg in DL and 36.6+/-1.9 mmHg in NL ( P<0.01). PaO(2)/FiO(2) was at 151+/-20. PEEP was applied on the DL and each lung was ventilated with a Vt that developed Pplat < or =26 cmH2O. With this setting, Vt given to the NL was unchanged, whereas it was reduced in the DL (238+/-30 ml vs 350+/-31 ml; P<0.01). Cst and EtCO2 were still significantly lower in the DL ( P<0.01, respectively), while the PaO(2)/FiO(2) ratio remained unchanged. Vt was then progressively increased in the DL as Pplat decreased, but remained unchanged in the NL. ILV was discontinued when Vt, Cst and EtCO(2) were the same in each lung. PaO(2)/FiO(2) ratio had then increased to 295+/-18.Conclusionsa) during ILV, adequate oxygenation and a reduction in V/Q mismatch can be obtained by setting Vt and PEEP to keep Pplat below a safe threshold for barotrauma; b) measurement of single lung EtCO2 can be useful to evaluate progressive V/Q matching.

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