Team members:

Principal Investigator:

Dr Kiyoyasu Kurahashi, Deputy Assembly Head (Japan)

Co-Investigators:

Dr Takuya Yazawa (Japan)

Project term:

1 September 2024 – 1 September 2025

Project summary:

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a life-threatening syndrome with high mortality (N Engl J Med. 342:1301-8, 2000). There is no therapy available at present. The lung protective ventilation strategy reduces ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) and mortality (JAMA. 315:788-800, 2016). Multiple studies revealed limiting transpulmonary pressure (P_tp) may prevent VILI (Am J Respir Crit Care Med.189:520-31, 2014). The P_tp is defined as alveolar pressure minus pleural pressure; however, available indices are limited in the clinical situation, and airway pressure and esophageal pressure (Pes) substitute them. In the real world; however, there is a naturally present uneven distribution of P_tp within the thoracic cavity, and unaware of actual P_tp at each lung part may mislead appropriate ventilatory settings. Here, we propose to reveal the uneven distribution of P_tp and compare them with lung injury of each lung region in an animal model. Given the idea about “the uneven distribution of P_tp,” the present experiment would facilitate the physicians and medical staff to apply reasonable ventilatory settings to critically ill patients.