Articles: mechanical-ventilation.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Apr 2017
ReviewSpontaneous Breathing During Mechanical Ventilation - Risks, Mechanisms & Management.
Spontaneous respiratory effort during mechanical ventilation has long been recognized to improve oxygenation, and because oxygenation is a key management target, such effort may seem beneficial. Also, disuse and loss of peripheral muscle and diaphragm function is increasingly recognized, and thus spontaneous breathing may confer additional advantage. ⋯ Notwithstanding the central place of spontaneous breathing in mechanical ventilation, accumulating evidence indicates that it may cause-or worsen-acute lung injury, especially if acute respiratory distress syndrome is severe and spontaneous effort is vigorous. This Perspective reviews the evidence for this phenomenon, explores mechanisms of injury, and provides suggestions for clinical management and future research.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Apr 2017
The Voice of Surrogate Decision Makers: Family Responses to Prognostic Information in Chronic Critical Illness.
Information from clinicians about the expected course of the patient's illness is relevant and important for decision-making by surrogates for chronically critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation. ⋯ Prognostic disclosure by skilled clinician communicators evokes a repertoire of responses from surrogates for the chronically critically ill. Recognition of these response patterns may help all clinicians better communicate their support to patients and families facing chronic critical illness and inform interventions to support surrogate decision-makers in ICUs. Clinical trial registration available at www.clinicaltrials.gov, ID NCT01230099.
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Despite their potential interest for clinical management, measurements of respiratory mechanics in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are seldom performed in routine practice. We introduced a systematic assessment of respiratory mechanics in our clinical practice. After the first year of clinical use, we retrospectively assessed whether these measurements had any influence on clinical management and physiological parameters associated with clinical outcomes by comparing their value before and after performing the test. ⋯ Implementing a systematic respiratory mechanics test leads to frequent individual adaptations of ventilator settings and allows improvement in oxygenation indexes and reduction of the risk of overdistention at the same time.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
[Health-related quality of life after mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit].
It is unknown whether health related quality of life measured in German patients one year after mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit is impaired or not. ⋯ The EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire is suitable for the acquisition of the health-related quality of life in formerly critically ill patients. Health-related quality of life is severely impaired after mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit. Future studies should consider health related quality of life as a possible study endpoint.