Too breathe or not to breathe? New strategies for a safe switch to assisted mechanical ventilation

Project summary

Mechanical ventilation in the ICU is life-saving for patients with acute lung failure. In the initial phase, respiration is fully controlled by the ventilator – the patient is deeply asleep. A crucial milestone is switching to assisted ventilation: patient’s spontaneous breathing is resumed while the ventilator assists respiration. The optimal timing of this switch is unknown. Spontaneous breathing could worsen lung injury, but there are no bedside methods to measure this risk. Using innovative lung imaging techniques, this project aims to determine when to safely switch to assisted ventilation. This is extremely important in order to accelerate ventilator liberation and recovery.