OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of lung protective ventilation strategy combined with lung recruitment maneuver on ARDS complicating patients with severe burn.

METHODSClinical data of 15 severely burned patients with ARDS admitted to our burn ICU from September 2011 to September 2013 and conforming to the study criteria were analyzed. Right after the diagnosis of acute lung injury/ARDS, patients received mechanical ventilation with lung protective ventilation strategy. When the oxygenation index (OI) was below or equal to 200 mmHg (1 mmHg = 0. 133 kPa), lung recruitment maneuver was performed combining incremental positive end-expiratory pressure. When OI was above 200 mmHg, lung recruitment maneuver was stopped and ventilation with lung protective ventilation strategy was continued. When OI was above 300 mmHg, mechanical ventilation was stopped. Before combining lung recruitment maneuver, 24 h after combining lung recruitment maneuver, and at the end of combining lung recruitment maneuver, variables of blood gas analysis (pH, PaO2, and PaCO2) were obtained by blood gas analyzer, and the OI values were calculated; hemodynamic parameters including heart rate, mean arterial pressure (MAP), central venous pressure (CVP) of all patients and the cardiac output (CO), extravascular lung water index (EVLWI) of 4 patients who received pulse contour cardiac output (PiCCO) monitoring were monitored. Treatment measures and outcome of patients were recorded. Data were processed with analysis of variance of repeated measurement of a single group and LSD test.

RESULTS(1) Before combining lung recruitment maneuver, 24 h after combining lung recruitment maneuver, and at the end of combining lung recruitment maneuver, the levels of PaO2 and OI of patients were respectively (77 ± 8), (113 ± 5), (142 ± 6) mmHg, and (128 ± 12), (188 ± 8), (237 ± 10) mmHg. As a whole, levels of PaO2 and OI changed significantly at different time points (with F values respectively 860. 96 and 842. 09, P values below 0. 01); levels of pH and PaCO2 showed no obvious changes (with F values respectively 0.35 and 3.13, P values above 0.05). (2) Levels of heart rate, MAP, CVP of all patients and CO of 4 patients who received PiCCO monitoring showed no significant changes at different time points (with F values from 0. 13 to 4. 26, P values above 0.05). Before combining lung recruitment maneuver, 24 h after combining lung recruitment maneuver, and at the end of combining lung recruitment maneuver, the EVLWI values of 4 patients who received PiCCO monitoring were respectively (13.5 ± 1.3), (10.2 ± 1.0), (7.0 ± 0.8) mL/kg ( F =117.00, P <0.01). (3) The patients received mechanical ventilation at 2 to 72 h after burn, lasting for 14-32 (21 ± 13) d. At post injury day 3-14 (7 ± 5) d, lung recruitment maneuver was applied for 2-5 (3.0 ± 2.0) d. All 15 patients recovered without other complications.

CONCLUSIONSLung protective ventilation strategy combining lung recruitment maneuver can significantly improve the oxygenation in patients with severe burn complicated with ARDS and may therefore improve the prognosis.