CHUNYAN ZHANG, DAPENG REN
The People’s Hospital of Kaizhouqu County
Objective: To determine the effective duration of monitoring of endotracheal catheter cuff pressure, in order to provide a guide for selecting appropriate respiratory tract management methods for critically-ill patients.
Methods: A total 71 patients in integrated ICU who received endotracheal intubation and underwent mechanical ventilation for more than 48 h were divided into control group (37 cases) and observation group (34 cases) based on order of hospital visit. Cuff pressure was monitored in the observation group at 6-h intervals, and in the control group every 4 h, in order to adjust the cuff pres- sure to the acceptable level of 30 cmH2O. Acceptable cuff pressure, incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and VAP- related mortality were compared between the two groups.
Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to cases with accepted cuff pressure (97.09 % in the observation group, and 97.61 % in the control group; p > 0.05). Moreover, there were no significant differences in the inci- dence of VAP and VAP-associated mortality between the two groups (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: It is important to monitor and calibrate the endotracheal catheter cuff pressure of critically-ill patients every 6 h so as to ensure stable cuff pressure in order to reduce the incidence of VAP and VAP-related mortality. This approach can be can be used clinically for management of VAP.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia, Endotracheal intubation, Mechanical ventilation; cuff pressure; monitoring; respi- ratory management.
10.19193/0393-6384_2019_1_14