Assessing Respiratory Variability During Mechanical Ventilation in Acute Lung Injury

Different modes of mechanical ventilation allow different levels of patient control of the respiratory pattern. For example, the most common mode of ventilation, called volume control, gives very little control to the patient in the amount of air taken for each breath. Other modes, such as pressure control, pressure regulated volume control and pressure support, allow more patient control of the volume of air delivered by the ventilator. Newer modes, such as airway pressure release ventilation (APRV), allow completely spontaneous patient respirations. All of these modes allow at least some patient control of respiratory rates.

Studies of natural breathing by healthy subjects have shown normal levels of variability in respiratory rate and tidal volume.1 Variability in physiological processes has been associated with health and the loss of variability can presage the onset of illness. For example, normal humans exposed to LPS (lipopolysaccharide-the potent immune-stimulating cell wall component of bacteria) lose their normal respiratory variability. Thus, physiological variability may represent a "hidden vital sign," the monitoring of which may herald important clinical events. Additionally, re-establishing normal levels of variability has therapeutic benefits in animal models. 2

The variability in respiratory patterns in ill patients has not been well studied. For example, it is currently unclear if critical illness results in deviations from normal variability patterns, if ventilator modes allowing increasing patient control of respiration allow patients to attain greater normalcy of respiratory variability, or if deviations from normal respiratory patterns while on ventilator modes which allow for increased levels of spontaneous breathing have prognostic implications.

The purpose of this pilot study is to record respiratory patterns from the ventilators of patients receiving various modes of mechanical ventilation in order to quantify and compare levels of respiratory variability associated with each mode. Our hypothesis is that APRV, a mode that allows spontaneous respiration, will be associated with respiratory variability patterns that most closely approximate that of normal subjects.

We hope that data derived from this study will inform future observational studies correlating respiratory variability during mechanical ventilation with severity of illness and prognosis.