Mechanical Insufflator-Exsufflator Maneuver no Collapse, so Says Electrical Impedance Tomography

Abstract

Although mechanical insufflator-exsufflator (MI-E) is widely used among patients with neuromuscular disease, little is known about its effect on alveolar pressure and pulmonary volumes in patients with lung diseases. Currently, outcomes related to MI-E are based mainly on oxygenation, although this parameter is unable to determine secondary collapse or hyper-distension. MI-E application was not yet evaluated by electrical impedance tomography (EIT), a tool that can assess lung aeration during MI-E therapy and enable safety to perform the technique and broaden the application of the procedure for patients with lung disease. region, which corresponds to the atelectasis zone. We believe that air could be driven into this area (as Vt change was detected by EIT) but air trapping occurred. A different time constant in this region might relate to this phenomenon.