• Chirag Shah and Marin H Kollef.
• Pulmonary and Critical Care Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
• Crit. Care Med. 2004 Jan 1; 32 (1): 120-5.

ObjectiveTo measure endotracheal tube intraluminal volume loss among mechanically ventilated patients.DesignProspective observational study.SettingMedical intensive care unit (19 beds) of an urban university-affiliated teaching hospital.PatientsA total of 101 patients with acute respiratory failure requiring >24 hrs of mechanical ventilation.InterventionsNone.Measurements And Main ResultsAcoustic reflectometry was employed to measure the intraluminal volume of 13-cm endotracheal tube segments. The endotracheal tube segment volumes were statistically smaller among endotracheal tubes used in patients compared with unused endotracheal tubes (5.4 +/- 0.7 vs. 6.0 +/- 0.6 mL, p <.001). The average percentage difference in endotracheal tube segment volumes, between the unused endotracheal tubes and the endotracheal tubes used in patients, was 9.8% (range, 0-45.5%). The percentage difference in the endotracheal tube segment volumes increased significantly with increasing duration of tracheal intubation (r2 =.766, p <.001). The minimum diameter of the endotracheal tube segments was also statistically smaller among endotracheal tubes used in patients compared with the unused endotracheal tubes (7.5 +/- 0.4 vs. 6.7 +/- 1.2 mm, p <.001).ConclusionsEndotracheal tube intraluminal volume loss is common among patients with acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation and increases with prolonged tracheal intubation.

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