Assessment of resting energy expenditure in mechanically ventilated patients.

Background: Usual equations for predicting resting energy expenditure (REE) are not appropriate for critically ill patients, and indirect calorimetry criteria render its routine use difficult.

Objective: Variables that might influence the REE of mechanically ventilated patients were evaluated to establish a predictive relation between these variables and REE.

Design: The REE of 70 metabolically stable, mechanically ventilated patients was prospectively measured by indirect calorimetry and calculated with the use of standard predictive models (Harris and Benedict's equations corrected for hypermetabolism factors).

Helium/oxygen mixture reduces the work of breathing at the end of the weaning process in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that helium/oxygen mixture can reduce the work of breathing at the end of the weaning process in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Design: Prospective, randomized, crossover study.

Setting: Two medical intensive care units at two university tertiary care centers.

Effectiveness of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation differs between decompensated chronic restrictive and obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

Objective: To compare the efficiency of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) in decompensated patients with either chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or chronic restrictive pulmonary disease.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: A 17-bed intensive care unit in a university teaching hospital.