Permissive Hypercapnia Impairs Pulmonary Gas Exchange in the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

摘要

Current recommendations for mechanical ventilation in the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) include the use of small tidal volumes (V_T), even at the sot of respiratory acidosis. We evalu - ated the effects Of this permissive hypercapnia on pulmonary gas exchange with the multiple inert gas elimination technique (Miget) in eight patients with ARDS. After making baseline mea - surements, we induced permissive hypercapnia by reducing VT from 10 ± 2 ml/kg to 6 ± 1 ml/kg (mean ± SEM) at constant posi - tive end-expirtory pressure.