Pressure Muscle Index and Threshold of Over-assistance During Pressure Support Ventilation

"First, for each patient enrolled we will perform inspiratory and expiratory occlusions - routinely performed diagnostic maneuvers to measure patient's breathing effort - at the clinically set level of breathing assistance by the mechanical ventilator. Importantly, we will measure pressure-muscle-index (PMI).~Second, we will set the level of assistance (i.e. pressure support, PS) in order to make PMI=0. The PS level at which PMI=0 (PS PMI=0) will be used as reference for the study protocol. After 5 minutes at PS PMI=0 we will perform inspiratory and expiratory occlusions."

3 steps of PS above (+2, +4, +6 cmH2O) and 3 below (-2, -4, -6 cmH2O) PSPMI=0 done in a randomized order (sequence in envelopes opened blindly by the investigators). Each step will last ≤5 minutes if poorly tolerated (see tolerance rule in description). At the end of each step we will perform 1 inspiratory occlusion and 3 expiratory occlusions. Each of the expiratory occlusion will be separated by 30 seconds in order to restore the patient's breathing pattern. We will resume a 3-minutes clinical PS in between each step to minimize changes in PaCO2. If not yet comprised by the study steps each patient will undergo an adjunctive 5 minutes step at PS 0 (zero) cmH2O.