Respiratory failure is a complex disease process whereby the underlying disease and therapeutic measures interact. This book contains an extensive bibliographic review, focusing on preventive and therapeutic studies, that was methodologically standardized, with authors assessing and classifying studies according to statutes of evidence-based medicine. It considers the epidemiology and outcome of mechanical ventilation; addresses ventilator modes and utility of pulmonary mechanics monitoring for treatment; analyzes physiologic effect and patient-outcomes of pulmonary recruitment and lung protective ventilation procedures; describes complications that can be present in these patients such as ventilator-associated pneumonia and useful methods to prevent respiratory infections; covers the impact of bronchodilators, corticosteroids, and antibiotics in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; discusses how, when, and in whom to do tracheostomy; and evaluates the use of sedation and neuromuscular blockade as well as current clinical trials in acute lung injury.

Evidence-based Management of Patients with Respiratory Failure: An Introduction

Mechanical Ventilation: Epidemiology and Outcomes
Ventilator Modes: Which do we use and how should we use them?
Management of Patients with Respiratory Failure: An Evidence-based Approach
What is the Utility of Monitoring Pulmonary Mechanics in the Treatment of Patients with Acute Respiratory Failure?
What are the Best Methods for Weaning Patients from Mechanical Ventilation?
Venous Thromboembolism in the ICU: What is the Epidemiology and What are the Consequences?
Non-invasive Ventilation: How, when, for whom, and what outcome?
Pulmonary Recruitment in Acute Lung Injury
Lung-Protective Ventilation Trial: A Comparison of Physiologic Effects and Patient-important Outcomes
Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: What is the impact of bronchodilators, corticosteroids and antibiotics?
Ventilator-associated Pneumonia: What are the Accuracies and the Consequences of Different Diagnostic Methods
Are the Most Simple Methods Still Useful in Preventing Respiratory Infections?
Tracheostomy in Patients with Respiratory Failure Receiving Mechanical Ventilation: How, when, and for whom?
The Use of Sedation and Neuromuscular Blockade: The Effect on Clinical Outcome
Current Clinical Trials in Acute Lung Injury
Novel Advancements in the Management and Diagnosis of Acute Respiratory Failure.