Highlights from EAST - prevention of ARDS

PREVENTATIVE VENTILATION PRIOR TO LUNG INJURY AVERTS ARDS: A NOVEL TIMING-BASED STRATEGY OF VENTILATOR THERAPY Shreyas K Roy, MD from SUNY Upstate Medical University studied ARDS in swine with Mesenteric ischemia and peritoneal sepsis.
They hypothesized that Early application of preventive mechanical ventilation before clinical signs of lung injury will avert the development of ARDS by minimizing alveolar instability and shear stress.
They found that all animals with non-protective ventilation developed ARDS while none of the animals treated with lung-protective ventilation developed ARDS.
Their Conclusions- Early preventive mechanical ventilation with APRV stopped the development of ARDS despite similar systemic inflammation and Vt.