New strategies in artificial ventilation: diagnosis and prevention of barotrauma/biotrauma through electrical impedance tomography (EIT)

Abstract

Although a life-saver in the short term, artificial mechanical ventilation is directly responsible for approximately 15,000 avoidable deaths per year in our country. The problems stem from the mechanical stress placed on a fragile and heterogeneous pulmonary structure. To prevent it, intensive care specialists needs better instruments to detect regional anomalies within the thoracic frame, as well as a deeper understanding of the pulmonary tissue response when coping with disease and mechanical stress. This project will study these deficiencies. Together with the Polytechnic School and the Mathematical School of USP, we will develop theoretical tools in order to conceive an ideal monitor in intensive care, potentially capable of capturing images, in real time, of regional and localized alterations in pulmonary ventilation. Through a series of clinical studies and experiments, we will determine the pulmonary response when coping with a variety of ventilating conditions, their ideal monitoring through this new technology, and a new logic for their treatment. (AU)