Friday, June 04, 2010

Cardiac issues in liberation from mechanical ventilation

In mechanically ventilated patients with cardiac disease, withdrawal of ventilatory support is associated with hemodynamic changes which impair cardiac function and may in turn lead to a failure of the spontaneous breathing trial. Occult cardiac disease is a common and under appreciated cause of failure to “wean.” I have dealt with this issue in a previous post.

Now an excellent update on the topic is available as open access full text in Critical Care. It's the best discussion I've found yet on this topic.

No comments: