• S Wirth, M Kreysing, J Spaeth, and S Schumann.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2016 Oct 1; 60 (9): 1241-50.

BackgroundAnaesthesia and mechanical ventilation can lead to impaired lung. Intraoperative positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) should prevent intratidal recruitment/derecruitment without causing overdistension. The intratidal compliance profile indicates both unwanted phenomena. We hypothesized that a higher than usual PEEP improves the intratidal compliance and the regional lung ventilation of patients with healthy lungs.MethodsAfter ethics approval, 30 adult patients scheduled for limb surgery were investigated at PEEP 5, 7 and 9 cm H2 O during mechanical ventilation. We calculated the dynamic compliance of the respiratory system (CRS ) and the intratidal volume-dependent CRS curve. The CRS curve indicated intratidal recruitment/derecruitment and/or overdistension. Regional ventilation was measured using electrical impedance tomography.ResultsAt PEEP 5, 7 and 9 cm H2 O, intratidal recruitment/derecruitment was observed in 92%, 84% and 46% (P < 0.05) of the patients respectively. Increasing PEEP was associated with recruitment in the dorsal regions of the lungs (P < 0.001). At PEEP 9 cm H2 O, lung overdistension was indicated in two patients. With PEEP levels up to 9 cm H2 O, no significant effects on haemodynamic variables were found.ConclusionWe conclude that in most patients, the often applied PEEP of 5 cm H2 O is insufficient to prevent intratidal recruitment/derecruitment and that few patients show overdistension at high PEEP levels. To establish optimal pressure-volume relationships in the respiratory system, the analysis of the individual intratidal compliance profiles could be a means for individualized perioperative PEEP titration.© 2016 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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