Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Sep 2000
Regional distribution of gas and tissue in acute respiratory distress syndrome. III. Consequences for the effects of positive end-expiratory pressure. CT Scan ARDS Study Group. Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
To determine whether differences in lung morphology assessed by computed tomography (CT) affect the response to positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). ⋯ In patients with ARDS, the cardiorespiratory effects of PEEP are affected by lung morphology rather than by the cause of the lung injury (primary versus secondary ARDS). The regional distribution of the loss of aeration and the type of atelectasis -- "mechanical" with a massive loss of lung volume, or "inflammatory" with a preservation of lung volume-- characterizing the lower lobes are the main determinants of the cardiorespiratory effects of PEEP.