Assessment of ventilation inhomogeneity during mechanical ventilation using a rapid-response oxygen sensor-based oxygen washout method

Purpose Ventilatory inhomogeneity indexes in critically ill mechanically ventilated patients could be of importance to optimize ventilator settings in order to reduce additional lung injury. The present study compared six inhomogeneity indexes calculated from the oxygen washout curves provided by the rapid oxygen sensor of the LUFU end-expiratory lung volume measurement system. Methods Inhomogeneity was tested in a porcine model before and after induction of acute lung injury (ALI) at four different levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP; 15, 10, 5 and 0 cm H 2 O). The following indexes were assessed: lung clearance index (LCI), mixing ratio, Becklake index, multiple breath alveolar mixing inefficiency, moment ratio and pulmonary clearance delay. Results LCI, mixing ratio, Becklake index and moment ratio were comparable with previous reported values and showed acceptable variation coefficients at baseline with and without ALI. Moment ratio had the highest precision, as calculated by the variation coefficients. LCI, Becklake index and moment ratio showed comparable increases in inhomogeneity during decremental PEEP steps before and after ALI. Conclusions The advantage of the method we introduce is the combined measurement of end-expiratory lung volume (EELV) and inhomogeneity of lung ventilation with the LUFU fast-response medical-grade oxygen sensor, without the need for external tracer gases. This can be combined with conventional breathing systems. The moment ratio and LCI index appeared to be the most favourable for integration with oxygen washout curves as judged by high precision and agreement with previous reported findings. Studies are under way to evaluate the indexes in critically ill patients.