Improving outcomes in prolonged mechanical ventilation: a road map

摘要

About 5-10% of patients on mechanical ventilation will have persistent respiratory failure necessitating prolonged mechanical ventilation/This condition is part of the larger syndrome of chronic critical illness, in which critically ill patients have continuing organ failures leading to protracted periods of organ support.2 Both prolonged mechanical ventilation and chronic critical illness are important public health problems. In the USA, for example, more than 38ОООО individuals are estimated to have chronic critical illness every year, with costs exceeding US$50 billion annually.