Abstract
Low-tidal-volume ventilation reduces mortality in patients with ARDS, but there are often challenges in implementing lung-protective ventilation, such as acidosis from hypercapnia. In a patient with severe ARDS we achieved adequate ventilation with a very low tidal volume (4 mL/kg ideal body weight) by inducing mild hypothermia (body temperature 35–36°C).
- acute respiratory distress syndrome
- ARDS
- mechanical ventilation
- lung-protective ventilation
- tidal volume
- hypothermia
- permissive hypercapnia
Footnotes
- Correspondence: Ulrich Schmidt MD PhD, Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Gray 4, Boston MA 02114. E-mail: uschmidt{at}partners.org.
To avoid potential conflict of interest, Editor in Chief Dean Hess was blinded to the peer review process, deferring to Associate Editor Richard Branson.
The authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest.
- Copyright © 2011 by Daedalus Enterprises Inc.