Bedside estimation of recruitable alveolar collapse and hyperdistension by electrical impedance tomography

Objective To present a novel algorithm for estimating recruitable alveolar collapse and hyperdistension based on electrical impedance tomography (EIT) during a decremental positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) titration. Design Technical note with illustrative case reports. Setting Respiratory intensive care unit. Patient Patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Interventions Lung recruitment and PEEP titration maneuver. Measurements and results Simultaneous acquisition of EIT and X-ray computerized tomography (CT) data. We found good agreement (in terms of amount and spatial location) between the collapse estimated by EIT and CT for all levels of PEEP. The optimal PEEP values detected by EIT for patients 1 and 2 (keeping lung collapse