For a study, researchers sought to observe Respiratory pendelluft’s occurrence and prognosis in patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The study examined 200 mechanically ventilated ARF patients treated in a tertiary ICU. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) was used within 48 hours of admission to detect the presence of pendelluft. The difference in impedance between the total of all regional tidal impedance variations and the global tidal impedance variation was used to calculate its amplitude. A percentage of more than 2.5% (the 95th percentile of 30 healthy volunteers) was considered conclusive. Pendelluft was discovered in 61 patients (31% overall prevalence) (39 in 94 patients with spontaneous breathing, 22 in 106 patients with controlled ventilation). Pendelluft was related to spontaneous breathing and a higher global inhomogeneity score. Pendelluft patients had a longer ICU stay [10 (6,14) vs 7 (4,11) days; median (lower, higher quartile); P=0.022], as well as fewer 14-day ventilator-free days [8 (1,10) vs 10 (6,12) days; P=0.015]. In patients with a PaO2/FiO2 ratio of less than 200 mmHg (log-rank p=0.042), subgroup survival analysis revealed a link between pendelluft and longer breathing time. ICU mortality did not differ between patients with pendelluft and those who did not. The study group found respiratory pendelluft common and linked to longer ventilation times. Early detection of this issue should prompt treatments to reduce pendelluft.
Source:annalsofintensivecare.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13613-022-00995-w
