Effects of obesity, pneumoperitoneum, and body position on mechanical power of intraoperative ventilation: an observational study.

Mechanical power can describe the complex interaction between the respiratory system and the ventilator and may predict lung injury or pulmonary complications, but the power associated with injury of healthy human lungs is unknown. Body habitus and surgical conditions may alter mechanical power but the effects have not been measured. In a secondary analysis of an observational study of obesity and lung mechanics during robotic laparoscopic surgery, we comprehensively quantified the static elastic, dynamic elastic, and resistive energies comprising mechanical power of ventilation.