Influence Of "Open Lung" Recruitment On Ards In Burn Patients With Inhalation Injury.

The aim of this study was to determine the safety and impact of open lung strategy ventilation on inhalation injury patients complicated with ARDS. A prospective study was conducted in 33 inhalation injury patients with ARDS who were randomly divided into a control group (ventilated as ARDS net) and a study group (ventilated with open lung strategy). All patients were ventilated with volume control mode until weaning. The results indicated that open lung procedure was safe in most patients with optimal PEEP of 14.31±1.89 cm H2O. Within the first week of ventilation, respiratory system static compliances and PaO2/FiO2 ratio significantly increased in both groups (p<.05) but at a faster rate for the study group (p<.05). Ventilation duration and length of ICU stay were not significantly different across groups (p>.05). Duration time from ARDS onset to death and from admission to death were remarkably longer in the study group (p<.05). However, mortality rate and cause of death were not significantly different within 28 days post burn injury. Open lung recruitment is feasible and could be applied for inhalation injury induced ARDS to improve oxygenation and survival time. Further trials need to be conducted to find out the effectiveness of this strategy on mortality.