Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 13, 2025
Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit
Published on: September 6, 2024
Monitoring bronchoalveolar lavage with electrical impedance tomography: first experience in a patient with COVID-19
Yingyun Fu1,2, Rongrong Zou1,3,2, Shouhong Wang1,4,2
1Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, The Second Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.
Objective:
Patients with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) often have airway secretions that severely compromise ventilation. This study investigates electrical impedance tomography (EIT) monitoring of a therapeutic bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in a patient with COVID-19.
Approach:
A patient with COVID-19 developed acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring mechanical ventilation. He received regional BAL to remove mucus in the small airways (20 ml × 5). Regional ventilation changes before BAL, 30 min after and in the following days, were monitored with EIT.
Main Results:
Regional ventilation worsened shortly after BAL and improved in the following days. The improvement of the oxygenation did not exactly match the ventilation improvement, which indicated a possible ventilation/perfusion mismatch.
Significance:
Therapeutic BAL might improve regional ventilation for COVID-19 and EIT could be a useful tool at the bedside to monitor the ventilation treatment of COVID-19.
