Impact of Ventilation Strategies on Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Complications in Patients Undergoing General Anaesthesia for Elective Surgery: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Overview

Journal Br J Anaesth

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Anesthesiology

Date 2023 Oct 15

PMID 37839932

Authors

Pasquale Buonanno

Annachiara Marra

Carmine Iacovazzo

Maria Vargas

Antonio Coviello

Francesco Squillacioti

Serena Nappi

Andrea Uriel de Siena

Giuseppe Servillo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Many RCTs have evaluated the influence of intraoperative tidal volume (tV), PEEP, and driving pressure on the occurrence of postoperative pulmonary complications, cardiovascular complications, and mortality in adult patients. Our meta-analysis aimed to investigate the association between tV, PEEP, and driving pressure and the above-mentioned outcomes.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs from inception to May 19, 2022. The primary outcome was the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications; the secondary outcomes were intraoperative cardiovascular complications and 30-day mortality. Primary and secondary outcomes were evaluated stratifying patients in the following groups: (1) low tV (LV, tV 6-8 ml kg and PEEP ≥5 cm HO) vs high tV (HV, tV >8 ml kg and PEEP=0 cm HO); (2) higher PEEP (HP, ≥6 cm HO) vs lower PEEP (LP, <6 cm HO); and (3) driving pressure-guided PEEP (DP) vs fixed PEEP (FP).

Results: We included 16 RCTs with a total sample size of 4993. The incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications was lower in patients treated with LV than with HV (OR=0.402, CI 0.280-0.577, P<0.001) and lower in DP than in FP group (OR=0.358, CI 0.187-0.684, P=0.002). Postoperative pulmonary complications did not differ between HP and LP groups; the incidence of intraoperative cardiovascular complications was higher in HP group (OR=1.385, CI 1.027-1.867, P=0.002). The 30-day mortality was not influenced by the ventilation strategy.

Conclusions: Optimal intraoperative mechanical ventilation is unclear; however, our meta-analysis showed that low tidal volume and driving pressure-guided PEEP strategies were associated with a reduction in postoperative pulmonary complications.

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