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Breast Surgery

Thursday, 2 September 2021

Critical Care Bulletin: September 2021

 

To prone or not to prone ARDS patients on ECMO

by Oriol Roca, Andrés Pacheco and Marina García-de-Acilu 

Critical Care volume 25, Article number: 315 (2021) Published: 31 August 2021

The prone position is recommended as a supportive therapy in patients with moderate- to-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). It is usually associated with improved oxygenation and pulmonary mechanics as the result of a more homogeneous distribution of mechanical forces and better ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) matching. These effects lead to a lower risk of aggravating preexisting lung injury and, ultimately, a decrease in mortality. Despite widespread use of the prone position in patients with ARDS, even in awake non-intubated spontaneously breathing patients, its use dramatically decreases once the patient has been placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). In this chapter, we discuss the available evidence regarding use of the prone position in ARDS patients treated with ECMO.

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