Journal of pediatric intensive care
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J Pediatr Intensive Care · Jun 2012
Effect of endotracheal tube leakage on respiratory function monitoring: Comparison of three neonatal ventilators.
In preterm infants, lung function monitoring is important for lung-protective mechanical ventilation. In this study, we used a neonatal lung model to investigate the effect of endotracheal tube (ETT) leakage on the monitoring of tidal volume (VT) and lung mechanics using different ventilators. A neonatal lung model was ventilated via a 3 mm ETT using three ventilators, Babylog 8000, Leoni, and Stephanie. ⋯ The displayed resistance increased with increasing ETT leakage for the three ventilators, but quite different. The effect of ETT leakage on displayed VT and lung mechanical parameters is ventilator-dependent. ETT leakage can lead to incorrect measurements that indicate reduced VT, improvement of lung compliance, or ETT obstruction.