Protective Ventilation in Neurosurgery, a Pilot Study

The role of mechanical ventilation in patients undergoing general anesthesia is worldwide well known but it has been associated with dangerous effects such as pulmonary complications, increasing postoperative morbidity and mortality. Lung-protective ventilation using low tidal volume and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), can reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome and is now considered a strong recommendation in patients undergoing general anesthesia. At the moment there are no guidelines that define which kind of ventilation should be used.

Patients without acute lung injury are still ventilated with large -and perhaps too large- tidal volumes. A recent multicenter randomized controlled trial has concluded that the use of a lung-protective ventilation strategy in intermediate-risk and high-risk patients undergoing major abdominal surgery was associated with improved clinical outcomes and reduced health care utilization . A multicentre randomized controlled trial on mechanical ventilation during general anesthesia for open abdominal surgery has concluded that an intraoperative protective ventilation strategy should include a low tidal volume and low PEEP, without recruitment maneuvers. In 52 patients undergoing general anesthesia for open thoracic surgery lung protective ventilation was associated with better intraoperative and postoperative oxygenation, and shorter duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation from ICU admission to its withdrawal.

In conclusion protective ventilation, with low tidal volumes and low PEEP, seems to be the gold standard for intra-operative mechanical ventilation during general anesthesia.

Mechanical ventilation represents an important tool to obtain cerebral de-bulking during neurosurgery by maintaining moderate hypocapnia and positive intra-thoracic pressure the lowest possible. For these reasons the application of PEEP with high tidal volume has been historically seen as unfavourable by neuro-anesthesiologists and neurosurgeons fearing transmission to intracranial compartment of high venous pressure values with consequent brain swelling and eventually cerebral perfusion pressure reduction.

Nevertheless, recent studies suggested that in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) PEEP seems to be well tolerated without deleterious intracranial effect and its role in the context of a protective ventilation protocol associated with low tidal volume, so with low expected intra-thoracic pressures, has never been studied in patients undergoing to general anesthesia for intracranial surgery of neoplasms.