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Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit
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Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit

Published on: September 6, 2024

Challenging a paradigm: positional changes in ventilation distribution are highly variable in healthy infants and

Alison R Lupton-Smith1, Andrew C Argent, Peter C Rimensberger

  • 1School of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

Pediatric Pulmonology
|September 7, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Infants and children show varied lung ventilation patterns when lying on their side. Body position significantly impacts ventilation distribution, challenging previous assumptions about non-dependent lung preference.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric respiratory physiology
  • Pulmonary imaging techniques

Background:

  • Previous studies suggested infants and children preferentially ventilate non-dependent lungs, but these involved sedated or ventilated patients with lung disease.
  • Limited understanding exists regarding ventilation distribution in healthy, spontaneously breathing young individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of body positioning (supine, left side-lying, right side-lying) on ventilation distribution in healthy infants and children.
  • To assess ventilation patterns in spontaneously breathing subjects aged 6 months to 9 years.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to measure ventilation distribution.
  • Quantified ventilation using the relative impedance change from end-expiratory to end-inspiratory phases.
  • Evaluated participants in supine, left side-lying, and right side-lying positions.

Main Results:

  • Out of 56 participants, 35% consistently showed greater ventilation in the non-dependent lung, while 15% favored the dependent lung.
  • A significant portion (51%) exhibited varied ventilation patterns depending on the side-lying position.
  • Left side-lying position led to significantly better ventilation of the right (non-dependent) lung (P < 0.01).

Conclusions:

  • Ventilation distribution in healthy, spontaneously breathing infants and children is complex and position-dependent.
  • The previously assumed reversal of adult ventilation patterns was not consistently evident.
  • Body position plays a crucial role in modulating lung ventilation in this population.
Abstract

Keywords:
body positionelectrical impedance tomographyinfants and childrenventilation distribution

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