Potential for Inhaled Nitric Oxide and Ventilation-Perfusion Mismatch by Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Patients With Lung Recruitment

Normally, pulmonary arteries in areas of alveolar hypoxia will constrict as a physiologic response to preserve ventilation/perfusion (V¬/Q¬) matching. However, in ARDS, this normal vasoconstrictive response is impaired. Because the body is unable to shunt blood away from the diseased alveoli, these nonaerated alveoli receive excessive blood flow, which contributes to severe V¬/Q¬ mismatching and an intrapulmonary right-to-left shunting of blood flow, which causes hypoxemia.

In the recent years, the treatment of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome has been proved that lung recruitment re-opens the non-ventilated alveolar to improve ventilation, and inhaled Nitric Oxide dilates non-perfused pulmonary vascular to improve perfusion. Both of these could improve ventilation-perfusion mismatch to enhance oxygenation. However, Ventilation-Perfusion mismatch is devided into ventilated nonperfused lung units(dead space) or perfused nonventilated units(shunt). No published study has evaluated the availability of lung recruitment combined with inhaled Nitric oxide in patients with ARDS.

The aims of our study are to measure dead space or shunt fraction before and after inhaled Nitric Oxide in moderate to severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome patients indicated Nitric oxide in FEMH MICU on 2021/01-2022/12, injected a bolus of 10mL of 3% NaCl solution via the central venous catheter with two-step recruitment maneuver by Electrical Impedance Tomography, which monitors ventilation-perfusion mismatch to evaluate whether the patient has potential to improve V/Q mismatch by Nitric oxide.