Observational Cohort Study of Distribution of Ventilation in Pediatrics Requiring Mechanical Ventilation by Electrical Impedance Tomography

Plain-language summary

Respiratory disorders are the leading cause of respiratory failure in children. Thousands of children are admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit each year and placed on mechanical ventilators. Despite over 40 years since the first pediatric-specific ventilator was designed, there has been no specific cardiopulmonary directed therapy that has proven superior. While mechanical ventilation is generally lifesaving, it can be associated with adverse events. There is evidence building to suggest that adopting a lung protective ventilation strategy by the avoidance of lung over-distension and collapse reduces death. Therefore, timely discovery of these two lung conditions is extremely important in order to mitigate the effects associated with positive pressure mechanical ventilation. The investigators research team has extensive research experience with a non-invasive and radiation free medical device called electrical impendence tomography (EIT). EIT is intended to generate regional information of changes in ventilation. Meaning it can detect this collapse and overdistension. This additional source of information could help fine tune the mechanical ventilator. A baseline of understanding of how often this occurs in the patients the investigators serve is required. Therefore the investigators propose an EIT observation study in their pediatric ICU patient population.

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