Cycling-off modes during pressure support ventilation: effects on breathing pattern, patient effort, and comfort.

Purpose: Expiratory asynchrony during pressure support ventilation (PSV) has been recognized as a cause of patient discomfort, increased workload, and impaired weaning process. We evaluated breathing pattern, patient comfort, and patient effort during PSV comparing 2 flow termination criteria: fixed at 5% of peak inspiratory flow vs automatic, real-time, breath-by-breath adjustment within the range of 5% to 55%.

Materials And Methods: Randomized crossover clinical trial.

Energy expenditure during weaning from mechanical ventilation: is there any difference between pressure support and T-tube?

Background: The objectives of this study were to compare patients' energy expenditure (EE) during pressure support (PS) and T-tube (TT) weaning from mechanical ventilation (MV) through indirect calorimetry (IC) and to crosscheck these findings with the results calculated using Harris-Benedict (HB) equation.

Methods: This study is a randomized crossover controlled trial. Patients with clinical criteria for weaning from MV were randomized to PS-TT or TT-PS, with EE measurement for 20 minutes in PS and TT through IC.