Aging-related predictive factors for oxygenation improvement and mortality in COVID-19 and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients exposed to prone position: A multicenter cohort study.

Background: Elderly patients are more susceptible to Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) and are more likely to develop it in severe forms, (e.g., Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome [ARDS]).

Impact of prone positioning on patients with COVID-19 and ARDS on invasive mechanical ventilation: a multicenter cohort study.

Objective: To identify factors that lead to a positive oxygenation response and predictive factors of mortality after prone positioning.

Methods: This was a retrospective, multicenter, cohort study involving seven hospitals in Brazil. Inclusion criteria were being > 18 years of age with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, being on invasive mechanical ventilation, having a PaO2/FIO2 ratio < 150 mmHg, and being submitted to prone positioning.

Characteristics and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 admitted to the ICU in a university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil - study protocol.

Objectives: We designed a cohort study to describe characteristics and outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in the largest public hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as Latin America becomes the epicenter of the pandemic.

Methods: This is the protocol for a study being conducted at an academic hospital in Brazil with 300 adult ICU beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients. We will include adult patients admitted to the ICU with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 during the study period.

Optimization of conditions for apnea testing in a hypoxemic brain dead patient.

We report the case of a patient in whom brain death was suspected and associated with atelectasis and moderate to severe hypoxemia even though the patient was subjected to protective ventilation, a closed tracheal suction system, positive end-expiratory pressure, and recruitment maneuvers. Faced with the failure to obtain an adequate partial pressure of oxygen for the apnea test, we elected to place the patient in a prone position, use higher positive end-expiratory pressure, perform a new recruitment maneuver, and ventilate with a higher tidal volume (8mL/kg) without exceeding the plateau pressure of 30cmH2O. The apnea test was performed with the patient in a prone position, with continuous positive airway pressure coupled with a T-piece.