Inflammation and Distribution of Pulmonary Ventilation Before and After Tracheal Intubation in ARDS Patients

Spontaneous breathing efforts in patients with respiratory failure connected to mechanical ventilation, has been associated with strong respiratory muscles activity. However, these mechanisms may will be present in patients with acute lung deseases who are breathing with no ventilatory support. We hypothesize that spontaneous breathing during acute respiratory failure could induced lung inflammation and worsen lung damage. Hereby, the connection to a ventilatory support tool, may protect the lungs from spontaneous ventilation-induced lung injury. To test our hypothesis, our aim is to determine the effects of spontaneous breathing in acute respiratory failure patients, on lung injury distribution; and to determine whether early controlled mechanical ventilation can avoid these deleterious effects by improving air distribution.