Upsala journal of medical sciences
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A ventilation strategy during general anaesthesia to reduce postoperative atelectasis.
Atelectasis is common during and after general anaesthesia. We hypothesized that a ventilation strategy, without recruitment manoeuvres, using a combination of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) and a reduced end-expiratory oxygen fraction (FETO2) before ending mask ventilation with CPAP after extubation would reduce the area of postoperative atelectasis. ⋯ Compared with conventional ventilation, after correction for obesity, this ventilation strategy reduced the area of postoperative atelectasis in one of the intervention groups but not in the other group, which included a higher proportion of smokers.