ZANELLA , A.

Summary For the last three decades, extracorporeal lung assist (ECLA) has been employed as a life-saving therapy in few highly-specialised centres. A deeper understanding of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) pathophysiology, improved technology and the positive results of recent trials have led to a reassessment of ECLA in the clinical...

Daily nursing in critical care patients may alter vital parameters, especially in the most critically ill patients. The aim of our study was to evaluate feasibility and safety of daily nursing on patients undergoing venous-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (vv-ECMO) for severe respiratory failure. Daily nursing was performed following...

Pulmonary tuberculosis can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) which is associated with high mortality. We report the case of a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis and severe ARDS (PaO 2/FiO 2<100 mmHg) who was initially managed with advanced up-to-date treatments (protective ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation,...

Objective: Assessing limits of agreement with helium dilution and repeatability of a new system (lung funcution, LUFU) that measures end-expiratory lung volume (EELV) in mechanically ventilated patients using the O2washin (EELVWin) and washout (EELVWout) technique. LUFU consists of an Evita 4 ventilator, a side-stream oxygen analyzer, and a...

After the first outbreak identified in Mexico in late March 2009, influenza A sustained by a modified H1N1 virus ("swine flu") rapidly spread to all continents. This article describes the first Italian case of life-threatening ARDS associated with H1N1 infection, treated with extracorporeal respiratory assistance (venovenous extracorporeal...

Background. Aim of the paper was to assess the performance of different expiratory valves and the resistance of helmet outlet ports at increasing gas flow rates. Methods. A gas flow-meter was connected to 10 different expiratory PEEP valves: 1 water-seal valve, 4 precalibrated fixed PEEP valves and 5 adjustable PEEP valves. Tree new valves of...

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