Abstract:
Objective To evaluate the effect of electrical impedance tomography (EIT)-guided personalized positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) setting on postoperative pulmonary complications in elderly frail patients undergoing robot-assisted prostate cancer radical surgery.
Methods A total of 66 patients aged ≥65 years with a frailty score (Fried Frailty Index) ≥3 who were scheduled for robot-assisted prostate cancer radical surgery were selected. The patients were randomly divided into two groups (
n=33): an EIT-guided personalized PEEP group (group I) and a fixed PEEP group (group P). Patients in group I received personalized PEEP settings based on EIT results, while those in group P were set to a fixed PEEP of 5 cmH
2O (1 cmH
2O=0.098 kPa). Arterial blood samples were collected before pre-oxygenation (T1), at post-intubation 5 min (T2), at post- pneumoperitoneum 30 min (T3) and 1 h (T4), and at post-extubation 15 min (T5), to measure arterial oxygen partial pressure (PaO
2) and oxygenation index (OI). Their airway peak pressure, plateau pressure, driving pressure, and dynamic compliance were recorded at post-PEEP titration 5 min (t1), 30 min (t2) and 1.5 h (t3), and before extubation (t4). The time to extubation, length of hospitalization stay, and incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications within postoperative seven days were recorded.
Results During surgery, group I showed increases in airway peak pressure, plateau pressure, and dynamic compliance and decreased driving pressure, compared with group P (
P<0.05). From T2 to T4, increased PaO
2 and OI were observed in group I, compared with those in group P (
P<0.05), while there was no statstical difference between the two groups at T5 (
P>0.05).There was no statstical difference between the two groups in the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications or the length of postoperative hospitalization stay (
P>0.05). Group I showed shorter time to extubation than group P, with statistical differences (
P<0.05).
Conclusions In elderly frail patients undergoing robot-assisted prostate cancer radical surgery, EIT-guided personalized PEEP dose not significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications within post-operative seven days, but it does improve intraoperative oxygenation and respiratory mechanics.