WEDNESDAY, March 22, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with hypoxemia after cardiac surgery, use of an intensive alveolar recruitment strategy is associated with less severe pulmonary complications, according to a study published online March 21 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The research was published to coincide with the annual International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, held from March 21 to 24 in Brussels.
Alcino Costa Leme, R.R.T., Ph.D., from the University of São Paulo in Brazil, and colleagues randomized patients with hypoxemia after cardiac surgery to an intensive alveolar recruitment strategy (157 patients) or a moderate recruitment strategy (163 patients) plus protective ventilation with small tidal volume.
The researchers found that the mean and median pulmonary complications score was 1.8 and 1.7, respectively, for the intensive recruitment strategy group, compared with 2.1 and 2.0, respectively, for the moderate strategy group. The distribution of primary outcome scores moved in favor of the intensive strategy; the common odds ratio was 1.86 for lower scores. The mean hospital stay was 12.4 versus 10.9 days for the moderate versus intensive group (absolute difference, −1.5 days), while the corresponding mean intensive care unit stay was 4.8 versus 3.8 days, respectively (absolute difference, −1.0 days).
"Among patients with hypoxemia after cardiac surgery, the use of an intensive versus a moderate alveolar recruitment strategy resulted in less severe pulmonary complications while in the hospital," the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
Abstract/Full Text
Editorial
More Information
