[Effects of positive expiratory pressure on cardiac output and estimated hepatic blood flow during controlled ventilation in man].

This study aimed to discover the effects of artificial ventilation with positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on cardiac output and hepatic blood flow in ten patients with chronic stable post-anoxic or post-traumatic coma, without any cerebral oedema or any other visceral pathology. This study was carried out at four levels of end-expiratory pressure (0, 5, 12 and 29 cmH2O) and after 24 h of artificial ventilation with a PEEP arbitrarily fixed at 12 cmH2O. Cardiac output was measured by thermodilution and hepatic blood flow by applying Fick's principle on a continuous infusion of indocyanine green with an analysis of suprahepatic venous samples.