Ventilation distribution assessed with electrical impedance tomography and the influence of tidal volume, recruitment and positive end-expiratory pressure in isoflurane-anesthetized dogs.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the intrapulmonary gas distribution of low and high tidal volumes (VT) and to investigate whether this is altered by an alveolar recruitment maneuver (ARM) and 5 cmH2O positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) during anesthesia. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective randomized clinical study. ANIMALS: Fourteen client-owned bitches weighing 26 ± 7 kg undergoing elective ovariohysterectomy. METHODS: Isoflurane-anesthetized dogs in dorsal recumbency were ventilated with 0 cmH2O PEEP and pressure-controlled ventilation by adjusting the peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) to achieve a low (7 mL kg-1; n = 7) or a high (12 mL kg-1; n = 7) VT. Ninety minutes after induction (T90), an ARM (PIP 20 cmH2O for 10 seconds, twice with a 10 second interval) was performed followed by the application of 5 cmH2O PEEP for 35 minutes (RM35). The vertical (ventral=0%; dorsal=100%) and horizontal (right=0%; left=100%) center of ventilation (CoV), four regions of interest (ROI) (ventral, central-ventral, central-dorsal, dorsal) identified in electrical impedance tomography images, and cardiopulmonary data were analyzed using two-way repeated measures anova. RESULTS: The low VT was centered in more ventral (nondependent) areas compared with high VT at T90 (CoV: 38.8 ± 2.5% versus 44.6 ± 7.2%; p = 0.0325). The ARM and PEEP shifted the CoV towards dorsal (dependent) areas only during high VT (50.5 ± 7.9% versus 41.1 ± 2.8% during low VT, p = 0.0108), which was more distributed to the central-dorsal ROI compared with low VT (p = 0.0046). The horizontal CoV was centrally distributed and cardiovascular variables remained unchanged throughout regardless of the VT, ARM, and PEEP. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Both low and high VT were poorly distributed to dorsal dependent regions, where ventilation was improved following the current ARM and PEEP only during high VT. Studies on the role of high VT on pulmonary complications are required.