Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2017

Abstract

Patients who have acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with persistent air leaks have worse outcomes. Endobronchial valves (EBV) are frequently deployed after pulmonary resection in noncritically ill patients to reduce and eliminate bronchopleural fistulas (BPFs) with persistent air leak (PAL). Information regarding EBV placement in mechanically ventilated patients with ARDS and high volume persistent air leaks is rare and limited to case reports. We describe three cases where EBV placement facilitated endotracheal extubation in patients with severe respiratory failure on prolonged mechanical ventilation with BPFs. In each case, EBV placement led to immediate resolution of PAL. We believe endobronchial valve placement is a safe method treating persistent air leak with severe respiratory failure and may reduce days on mechanical ventilation.

Comments

The copy of record is at https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/3092457.

Copyright © 2017 Haris Kalatoudis et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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