The Impact of Higher Positive End Expiratory Pressure on Patient-Ventilator Asynchrony

Patient-ventilator asynchrony is known to frequently occur during lung protective ventilation in patients with ARDS. Previous clinical studies showed that patient-ventilator asynchrony was associated with worse outcome in ICU. Therefore, strategies to reduce patient-ventilator asynchrony need to be established promptly. Several asynchronies, e.g., breath stacking are caused by vigorous spontaneous breathing effort. Recently, the investigators' group found that higher positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) reduced the intensity of spontaneous breathing effort of in severe ARDS model (rabbits, pigs) and patients with ARDS. Thus, the investigators conjectured that higher PEEP may reduce the intensity of spontaneous breathing effort and thereby reduce patient-ventilator asynchrony during protective ventilation strategy, compared with lower PEEP in patients with ARDS.