Permissive hypercapnia and intravascular oxygenator in the treatment of patients with ARDS.

This open clinical study was aimed at testing the hypothesis that an intravascular oxygenator (IVOX) may help to perform permissive hypoventilation in 10 patients with severe ARDS. After initial evaluation, we tried to reduce ventilator settings before and after IVOX implantation. Before IVOX, poor clinical tolerance and worsening oxygenation did not allow for a significant decrease in ventilator settings. With IVOX, peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) was reduced from 47 to 39 cm H2O (p = 0.005) and minute ventilation from 13 +/- 3.5 to 11 +/- 3 L/min. CO2 removal by IVOX allowed a significant decrease in PaCO2 from 66 +/- 15 to 59 +/- 13 mm Hg. Improvement of oxygenation with IVOX was not significant. Furthermore, interruption of oxygen flow through IVOX did not change oxygenation variables. Tolerance of the IVOX device was good, but insertion of the device was followed by a significant decrease in both cardiac index and pulmonary wedge pressure. In conclusion, IVOX improves tolerance of hypoventilation by limiting hypercapnia in ARDS patients. These preliminary results must be confirmed by a randomized controlled study.