Update on patient-triggered ventilation

Results from physiologic studies demonstrating better tidal volume delivery and blood gas exchange but reduced blood pressure fluctuations, and suggested use of patient-triggered ventilation (PTV) rather than conventional mechanical ventilation, might reduce chronic lung disease and intracerebral hemorrhage. Metaanalysis of randomized trials, however, has demonstrated PTV is only significantly associated with a shorter duration of ventilation. The benefits of PTV seen in physiologic studies were largely dependent on promoting synchronized ventilation, but no attempt was made in any of the randomized trials to assess whether this occurred. To determine the efficacy of PTV, the optimum triggering device and triggered mode, which may be disease-specific, should be tested.