Current opinion in critical care
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2025
ReviewMonitoring and modulating respiratory drive in mechanically ventilated patients.
Respiratory drive is frequently deranged in the ICU, being associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Monitoring and modulating respiratory drive to prevent potentially injurious consequences merits attention. This review gives a general overview of the available monitoring tools and interventions to modulate drive. ⋯ Monitoring and modulating respiratory drive are feasible based on physiological principles presented in this review. However, evidence arising from clinical trials will help determine precise thresholds and optimal interventions.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2025
ReviewMonitoring respiratory muscles effort during mechanical ventilation.
To summarize basic physiological concepts of breathing effort and outline various methods for monitoring effort of inspiratory and expiratory muscles. ⋯ Different tools are available for monitoring the respiratory muscles' effort during mechanical ventilation - from noninvasive screening tools to more invasive quantification methods. This could facilitate a lung and respiratory muscle-protective ventilation approach.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2025
ReviewHow to prevent and how to treat dyspnea in critically ill patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation.
To summarize current data regarding the prevalence, risk factors, consequences, assessment and treatment of dyspnea in critically ill patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation. ⋯ As opposed to pain, dyspnea has often been overlooked in terms of detection and management, resulting in its significant underestimation in daily practice. When it is diagnosed, dyspnea can be relieved through straightforward interventions, such as adjusting ventilator settings. Assessing dyspnea in patients undergoing invasive mechanically ventilated may be challenging, especially in noncommunicative patients (RRBS). Implementing a systematic dyspnea assessment in routine, akin to pain, could serve as a first step to reduce RRBS and prevent potential severe psychological consequences. In addition to pharmacological treatments like opioids, a promising approach is to modulate both the sensory (air on the face, trigeminal nerve stimulation) and the affective (relaxing music, hypnosis, directed empathy) components of dyspnea.
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Guidelines recommend systematic performance of a spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) before extubation in ICUs, the objective being to reduce the risk of reintubation. In theory, a more challenging SBT performed with a T-piece may further reduce the risk of reintubation, whereas a less challenging SBT performed with pressure-support ventilation (PSV) may hasten extubation. ⋯ Several recent clinical trials have improved assessment of the most adequate way to perform SBT before extubation.
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Curr Opin Crit Care · Feb 2025
ReviewSpontaneous breathing-induced lung injury in mechanically ventilated patients.
Recent experimental and clinical studies have suggested that spontaneous effort can potentially injure the lungs. This review summarizes the harmful effects of spontaneous breathing on the lungs during mechanical ventilation in ARDS and suggests potential strategies to minimize spontaneous breathing-induced lung injury. ⋯ Several potential strategies, including neuromuscular blockade, partial paralysis, phrenic nerve blockade, sedatives, PEEP, and prone positioning, could be useful to minimize spontaneous breathing-induced lung injury.