Effects of Individualized PEEP Guided by Driving Pressure on Postoperative Atelectasis in Patients With Morbid Obesity

Individualized PEEP group: Recruitment Maneuver (RM) is performed first. In pressure control mode, PEEP and airway plateau pressure are increased to 20 cmH2O and 35 cmH2O at a rate of 5 cmH2O every 30s, and driving pressure is maintained at 15 cmH2O throughout. Subsequently, in volume-controlled ventilation mode, PEEP decreases from 20 cmH2O to 4 cmH2O at gradient of 2 cmH2O, and each PEEP level is maintained for 30s. The PEEP corresponding to the lowest driving pressure is the individualized PEEP we need. If multiple PEEP levels showed the same lowest driving pressure, the lowest PEEP value as the individualized PEEP. The above procedures are performed three times during the surgery (5 minutes after intubation,5 minutes after the beginning of pneumoperitoneum, and 5 minutes after the end of pneumoperitoneum).

After the same RM, PEEP is fixed at 8 cmH2O.