Putting lungs under less stress
June 5, 2018, University of Missouri-Columbia
The numbers are grim: Of the 200,000 Americans diagnosed with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) each year, 30 to 50 percent will die. But, clinical researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine's division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Environmental Medicine identified a less-invasive treatment option for patients with severely impaired lung function.
"Treating patients with ARDS has been historically difficult," said Hariharan Regunath, MD, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the MU School of Medicine and medical director of the Progressive Care Unit at University Hospital. "These patients tend to be already very sick, and the nature of current interventions means a grueling recovery and possibly being transported to a far-away facility for specialized care. However, what we observed is that it's possible in some cases to significantly decrease the amount of air used by the ventilators used in this process, thereby mitigating further lung injury, which in turn might improve outcomes and access to care."
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-lungs-stress.html
