• David Lagier, François Fischer, William Fornier, Jean-Luc Fellahi, Pascal Colson, Bernard Cholley, Samir Jaber, Karine Baumstarck, Catherine Guidon, and PROVECS investigators and the ARCOTHOVA group.
• Department of Cardiovascular Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, La Timone University Hospital, AP-HM and Aix-Marseille University, 264 rue saint Pierre, 13005, cedex 5, Marseille, France. david.lagier@ap-hm.fr.
• Trials. 2018 Nov 13; 19 (1): 624.

BackgroundPostoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) are frequent after on-pump cardiac surgery. Cardiac surgery results in a complex pulmonary insult leading to high susceptibility to perioperative pulmonary atelectasis. For technical reasons, ventilator settings interact with the surgical procedure and traditionally, low levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) have been used. The objective is to compare a perioperative, multimodal and surgeon-controlled open-lung approach with conventional protective ventilation with low PEEP to prevent PPCs in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.Methods/DesignThe perioperative open-lung protective ventilation in cardiac surgery (PROVECS) trial is a multicenter, two-arm, randomized controlled trial. In total, 494 patients scheduled for elective cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and aortic cross-clamp will be randomized into one of the two treatment arms. In the experimental group, systematic recruitment maneuvers and perioperative high PEEP (8 cmH2O) are associated with ultra-protective ventilation during CPB. In this group, the settings of the ventilator are controlled by surgeons in relation to standardized protocol deviations. In the control group, no recruitment maneuvers, low levels of PEEP (2 cmH2O) and continuous positive airway pressure during CPB (2 cmH2O) are used. Low tidal volumes (6-8 mL/kg of predicted body weight) are used before and after CPB in each group. The primary endpoint is a composite of the single PPCs evaluated during the first 7 postoperative days.DiscussionThe PROVECS trial will be the first multicenter randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a perioperative and multimodal open-lung ventilatory strategy on the occurrence of PPCs after on-pump cardiac surgery. The trial design includes standardized surgeon-controlled protocol deviations that guarantee a pragmatic approach. The results will help anesthesiologists and surgeons aiming to optimize ventilatory settings during cardiac surgery.Trial RegistrationClinical Trials.gov, NCT 02866578 . Registered on 15 August 2016. Last updated 11 July 2017.

20 keywords...

hide…