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Minerva Anestesiologica 2016 February;82(2):210-20

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Recruitment maneuvers in acute respiratory distress syndrome and during general anesthesia

Davide CHIUMELLO ^{1, 2}, Ilaria ALGIERI ², Salvatore GRASSO ³, Pierpaolo TERRAGNI ⁴, Paolo PELOSI ⁵ ✉

¹ Dipartimento di Anestesia, Rianimazione (Intensiva e Subintensiva) e Terapia del Dolore, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy; ² Dipartimento di Fisiopatologia Medico-Chirurgica e dei Trapianti, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy; ³ Dipartimento dell’Emergenza e Trapianti d’Organo (DETO), Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, Italy; ⁴ Dipartimento di Scienze Chirurgiche, Università degli Studi di Torino, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Turin, Italy; ⁵ Dipartimento di Scienze Chirurgiche e Diagnostiche Applicate, IRCCS San Martino IST, Genoa, Italy

The use of low tidal volume ventilation and low to moderate positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) levels is a widespread strategy to ventilate patients with non-injured lungs during general anesthesia and in intensive care as well with mild to moderate acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Higher PEEP levels have been recommended in severe ARDS. Due to the presence of alveolar collapse, recruitment maneuvers (RMs) by causing a transient elevation in airway pressure (i.e. transpulmonary pressure) have been suggested to improve lung inflation in non-inflated and poorly-inflated lung regions. Various types of RMs such as sustained inflation at high pressure, intermittent sighs and stepwise increases of PEEP and/or airway plateau inspiratory pressure have been proposed. The use of RMs has been associated with mixed results in terms of physiological and clinical outcomes. The optimal method for RMs has not yet been identified. The use of RMs is not standardized and left to the individual physician based on his/her experience. Based on the same grounds, RMs have been proposed to improve lung aeration during general anesthesia. The aim of this review was to present the clinical evidence supporting the use of RMs in patients with ARDS and during general anesthesia and as well their potential biological effects in experimental models of acute lung injury.