Respiratory care
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Patients with a tracheostomy and difficult weaning from invasive mechanical ventilation constitute a challenging problem in critical care. An increased duration of ventilation may lead to diaphragmatic dysfunction and a noninvasive assessment of the diaphragm, such as ultrasound, attracts interest in the clinical practice. We evaluated the relationship of ultrasound-derived indices with weaning outcome and with established indices of respiratory strength and load in subjects who are tracheostomized and undergoing weaning. ⋯ Diaphragmatic excursion is a valuable tool for the assessment of diaphragmatic strength, respiratory load, and weaning prediction.
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Recovery of walking independence in critically ill patients is required for safe discharge home. However, the pre-admission predictors affecting this outcome in this patient group are unknown. This study aimed to identify these predictors. ⋯ Pre-admission frailty or pre-frailty, cognitive impairment, and malnutrition risk can help predict walking independence in critically ill patients who require mechanical ventilation.
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A model system described in International Organization for Standardization 9360 is the standard method for estimating the humidifying performance of heat and moisture exchangers (HMEs). However, there are no reliable bedside methods for evaluating the ongoing humidification performance of HMEs. Therefore, this study aimed to develop 2 clinically applicable methods for estimating the ongoing humidifying performance of HMEs and to evaluate their reliability in a model system. ⋯ Our results demonstrated that our system was able to detect the differences in the performance of 3 models of HMEs and suggest that our method for calculating water loss is reliable for estimating the water retention performance of HMEs during mechanical ventilation, even in the presence of a constant flow.
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Comparative Study
In Vitro Comparison of Aerosol Delivery in High-Frequency Assisted Airway Clearance Devices With Integrated Nebulizers.
High-frequency assisted airway clearance systems combine positive expiratory pressure or oscillatory positive airway pressure with integrated nebulizers to improve the delivery of aerosols and assist with airway clearance. This aerosol study evaluated lung delivery efficiency during positive expiratory pressure and oscillatory positive airway pressure therapy of 2 high-frequency assisted airway clearance/nebulizer systems. ⋯ The BiWaze Clear system showed greater delivery efficiency than did the Volara during positive expiratory pressure and oscillatory positive airway pressure. The high residual nebulizer dose and fugitive aerosol losses through the handset leak valve contributed to the lower delivery efficiency observed with the Volara. The nebulizer type, circuit design, and handset are important factors when targeting effective aerosol delivery to the lungs with high-frequency assisted airway clearance therapy.
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The first aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to identify the effect of PEEP on regional ventilation distribution and the regional risk of collapse, overdistention, hypoventilation, and pendelluft in mechanically ventilated patients. The second aim was to evaluate the feasibility of EIT for estimating airway opening pressure (AOP). ⋯ Our results suggest that EIT could aid clinicians in making personalized and reasoned choices in setting the PEEP for subjects with ARDS.