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S Blevins

Publications and source records attributed to S Blevins.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Prospective evaluation of combined high-frequency ventilation in post-traumatic patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome refractory to optimized conventional ventilatory management.

This study explores the value of combined high-frequency ventilation (CHFV) in a prospective clinical trial of 35 patients suffering from severe post-traumatic and/or septic adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) who were refractory to conventional controlled mechanical ventilatory (CMV) support. The severity of ARDS was quantified by lung mechanics and gas exchange variables and the patients were classified on clinical grounds as well as on the basis of their respiratory index/pulmonary shunt relationship [RI/(Qsp/Qt)]. During the same time period as the CHFV study, data from these patients were compared to those from 88 ARDS patients who had quantitatively similar degrees of respiratory insufficiency, but who were treated only with controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV). The use of CHFV in the 35 CMV refractory patients resulted in an increase in expired tidal volume (VTE) by reducing the CMV inspired tidal volume (VTI) while increasing the volume component derived from high-frequency ventilation (HFV). This procedure appeared to reveal potentially salvageable ARDS patients who were refractory to CMV. In these patients, CHFV significantly reduced pulmonary mean airway pressure (Paw). The RI also decreased significantly and it was possible to reduce significantly the FIO2. In surviving ARDS patients treated with CHFV, an improvement in blood gases at reduced FIO2, without decreased cardiac output, was produced. The CHFV technique was used for less than or equal to 25 days and resulted in 23% survival of patients who were clinically and physiologically indistinguishable from the patients in the ARDS nonsurvivor group who were treated by CMV only. In surviving CHFV patients the decrease in Paw permitted a sustained, or increased, cardiac output with a rise in the oxygen delivery/oxygen consumption ratio, thus allowing for a higher PaO2 for any given level of pulmonary shunt.

Adolescent↗

Respiratory index/pulmonary shunt relationship: quantification of severity and prognosis in the post-traumatic adult respiratory distress syndrome.

The relationship between the respiratory index (RI = alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient [P(A-a)O2] normalized by PaO2) and the pulmonary shunt (Qsp/Qt) has been examined in 929 studies from 240 critically ill post-traumatic patients. Of these, 88 patients (443 studies) were individuals who developed post-traumatic adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and 152 were patients (486 studies) who did not develop ARDS. This study demonstrates that the RI to Qsp/Qt [RI/(Qsp/Qt)] relationship was significantly (p less than .0001) increased in patients who developed fatal ARDS compared with those who did not develop ARDS, or with those whose ARDS resolved. Because of the increased oxygen consumption (VO2) in ARDS patients in association with their severe limitations in gas exchange (RI) and increased Qsp/Qt, surviving ARDS patients had a significant increase in the cardiac index which resulted in a higher oxygen delivery to VO2 ratio. ARDS patients showed significant (p less than .0001) evidence of increased pulmonary vascular tone, correlated with the increase in the RI/(Qsp/Qt) relationship. In addition, those patients with high RI/(Qsp/Qt) also had increased right ventricular (RVSW) to left ventricular work (LVSW) ratios which were shown to be a direct function of the rise in RI. This increase in both RVSW/LVSW and RI/(Qsp/Qt) ratios was significantly (p less than .0001) correlated with an increased mortality. Thus, the RI/(Qsp/Qt) relationship, which can be obtained from arterial and mixed venous blood gases and saturations only, can be used to predict the severity of the ARDS process as well as important pulmonary vascular and right ventricular overload consequences.

Hemodynamics↗

Prediction of arterial blood gases by transcutaneous O2 and CO2 in critically ill hyperdynamic trauma patients.

The management of severe adult respiratory distress syndrome in critically injured patients requires the frequent measurement of arterial blood gases for adjustment of cardiovascular and ventilatory support. Since these require blood withdrawal and laboratory determinations, a noninvasive method of assessment of arterial gas tensions would permit more frequent assessment of the patient as well as permitting rapid changes in the patient's ventilatory status to be detected earlier in the clinical course. The role of transcutaneous O2 and CO2 tension in providing these measurements was evaluated in 92 studies in 38 critically ill patients with ARDS due to trauma and/or sepsis. All patients were normodynamic or hyperdynamic at the time of study (cardiac index 2.5 to 7.6 L/min/m2) and were intubated and on increased inspired oxygen fractions (FIO2 = 30 to 100%) delivered by mechanical ventilation, had a range of body temperature from 35.0 to 39.5 degrees C and pH from 7.29 to 7.57 The data from a transcutaneous O2 and CO2 sensor applied to the skin of the anterior thorax were analyzed by multiple regression analysis of variances. Prediction of the arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) from 52 to 253 torr was possible from regression-corrected measurements of the transcutaneous O2 (TcO2): [PaO2 = 1.1 (TcO2) - 0.28 (FIO2) + 45.5]. The arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) from 26 to 57 torr was predicted from the transcutaneous CO2 (TcCO2):[PaCO2 = 0.76 (TcCO2) + 0.06 (FIO2) + 0.035 (TcO2) + 4.1]. With these corrections, a noninvasive Respiratory Index was computed for assessing ARDS severity, and dynamic changes in arterial gases could be followed in response to postural changes, ventilatory alterations, or cardiovascular perturbations. These data suggest that a reasonable estimate of the arterial blood gases can be obtained from a regression-corrected measurement of the transcutaneous O2 and CO2 tensions in critically injured normodynamic or hyperdynamic ARDS patients.

Adult↗

Quantification of asymmetric lung pathophysiology as a guide to the use of simultaneous independent lung ventilation in posttraumatic and septic adult respiratory distress syndrome.

The management of impaired respiratory gas exchange in patients with nonuniform posttraumatic and septic adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) contains its own therapeutic paradox, since the need for volume-controlled ventilation and PEEP in the lung with the most reduced compliance increases pulmonary barotrauma to the better lung. A computer-based system has been developed by which respiratory pressure-flow-volume relations and gas exchange characteristics can be obtained and respiratory dynamic and static compliance curves computed and displayed for each lung, as a means of evaluating the effectiveness of ventilation therapy in ARDS. Using these techniques, eight patients with asymmetrical posttraumatic or septic ARDS, or both, have been managed using simultaneous independent lung ventilation (SILV). The computer assessment technique allows quantification of the nonuniform ARDS pattern between the two lungs. This enabled SILV to be utilized using two synchronized servo-ventilators at different pressure-flow-volumes, inspiratory/expiratory ratios, and PEEP settings to optimize the ventilatory volumes and gas exchange of each lung, without inducing excess barotrauma in the better lung. In the patients with nonuniform ARDS, conventional ventilation was not effective in reducing shunt (QS/QT) or in permitting a lower FIO2 to be used for maintenance of an acceptable PaO2. SILV reduced per cent v-a shunt and permitted a higher PaO2 at lower FIO2. Also, there was x-ray evidence of ARDS improvement in the poorer lung. While the ultimate outcome was largely dependent on the patient's injury and the adequacy of the septic host defense, by utilizing the SILV technique to match the quantitative aspects of respiratory dysfunction in each lung at specific times in the clinical course, it was possible to optimize gas exchange, to reduce barotrauma, and often to reverse apparently fixed ARDS changes. In some instances, this type of physiologically directed ventilatory therapy appeared to contribute to a successful recovery.

Adolescent↗