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Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) at 20 or 40 ppm does not improve arterial oxygenation during one-lung ventilation (OLV). The authors hypothesized that NO at smaller concentrations might improve oxygenation. Twelve piglets weighing 26 to 32 kg were studied. When PaO2 had reached a plateau during OLV, NO at doses of 4, 8, 16, and 32 ppm were randomly administered for 30 min. Hemodynamic data were determined by invasive monitoring. Blood gas analysis and, in six animals, ventilation-perfusion analysis by the multiple inert gas elimination technique were used to characterize pulmonary gas exchange. NO at 4, 8, 16, and 32 ppm improved PaO2 during OLV. NO at 4 ppm had a more intense effect on arterial oxygenation than doses of 8, 16, and 32 ppm ( PaO2, 42 ± 35 mm Hg versus 22 ± 20 mm Hg, 13 ± 18 mm Hg, and 15 ± 16 mm Hg; P < 0.05). NO at 4 ppm reduced intrapulmonary shunt flow, whereas a larger concentration exhibited no statistically significant effect. The authors conclude that NO improves arterial oxygenation more effectively at smaller doses than at larger doses. This dose-dependent effect remains to be confirmed in acute hypoxemia during OLV. IMPLICATIONS: Inhaled nitric oxide at 4 ppm improves arterial oxygenation during one-lung ventilation to a greater extent than larger doses, and this effect is caused by a reduction in intrapulmonary shunt.
During one-lung ventilation (OLV), arterial desaturation can be attenuated by using a high inspired oxygen fraction (FIO2) or by selectively applying continuous positive airway pressure to the upper, nonventilated lung (1). If both maneuvers fail, intermittent double-lung ventilation is unavoidable. However, continuous positive airway pressure and intermittent double-lung ventilation can impair surgical exposure and, thus, may be difficult to apply during complicated cancer surgery. Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) has the capability to improve oxygenation both in adults (2) and children (3) with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Therefore, NO may improve oxygenation during OLV. However, several studies using NO at doses of 20 ppm (46) or 40 ppm (7) failed to demonstrate an improvement of oxygenation during OLV.
On the basis of investigations during different settings (3,810), the optimum dose of NO regarding arterial oxygenation is <10 ppm. Furthermore, large NO concentrations in patients with obstructive pulmonary disease can make pulmonary oxygenation worse by deteriorating ventilation-perfusion ( Perhaps the failure of previous studies to improve oxygenation during OLV was due to the administration of too-large doses of NO. The main objective of our experimental study was to test the hypothesis that doses <10 ppm of NO improve arterial oxygenation during OLV.
The study protocol was approved by the Animal Research Ethics Committee of Justus-Liebig University Giessen. Twelve female German Landrace pigs, weighing 2632 kg, were fasted overnight, with free access to water. Before the experiment, all animals were auscultated to ensure absence of bacterial infection. The animals were premedicated with an IM injection of azaperone (StresnilTM; Janssen, Beerse, Belgium) 46 mg/kg, midazolam (DormicumTM; Hoffmann-La Roche, Grenzach- Wyhlen, Switzerland) 12 mg, and atropine (B. Braun, Melsungen, Germany) 0.01 mg/kg. After 30 min, a venous line was inserted into a peripheral ear vein, and fentanyl 0.2 mg, ketamine 57 mg/kg, midazolam 34 mg, and pancuronium were injected. The animals were placed on a table with a heating pad to maintain body temperature at 38°C to 39°C. Arterial oxygen saturation was continuously monitored with a pulse oximeter attached to the tail. Ventilation was assisted by a mask in the supine position, and a 5.5-mm-inner-diameter cuffed endotracheal tube was placed in the trachea through tracheostomy. Anesthesia was maintained by a continuous infusion of ketamine 810 mg · kg-1 · h-1 and midazolam 0.3 mg · kg-1 · h-1; pancuronium 0.3 mg · kg-1 · h-1 was used for muscle relaxation. IV injections of fentanyl 0.150.2 mg were given 5 min before surgical interventions. Throughout the experiment, Ringers solution 5 mg · kg-1 · h-1 and glucose 5% 2.5 mg · kg-1 · h-1 were infused. An arterial catheter was surgically placed through the left carotid artery, and a continuous intravascular blood gas system, consisting of fluorescent PO2, pH and PCO2 sensors, and a thermocouple (Paratrend 7+; Diametrics, Highwycombe Bucks, UK), was inserted after in vitro calibration via the carotid artery catheter. A 5F pulmonary artery catheter was inserted via the right external jugular vein. The tip of the pulmonary artery catheter was placed just beyond the pulmonary valve. After the surgical preparation, the animals were left to rest for 45 min before the experiment was started. The lungs were initially ventilated at a rate of 14 breaths/min with a Siemens Servo Ventilator 300 in the pressure-regulated, volume-controlled mode. Tidal volume was adjusted to achieve an arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) of 3743 mm Hg. The FIO2 was set to 0.8 and maintained throughout the experiment. After 30 min, the tracheal tube was positioned distal to the upper right lobe ostium, which enters the trachea directly, under fiberoptic control. To establish OLV, the right mainstem bronchus was blocked by inflating the balloon of a pulmonary artery catheter at end-expiration. The respiratory rate was increased to 16 breaths/min, and tidal volume was adjusted to obtain a PaCO2 between 37 and 43 mm Hg. Animals were then turned to the left lateral decubitus position, and a right thoracotomy was performed. The right lung was exposed by placing a chest retractor between the third and fourth ribs. OLV was continuously monitored by inspecting the movements of the right lung. NO was administered with a proportional gas injection system (Pulmonox-Mini; Messer-Griesheim, Krefeld, Germany), which uses an external orifice-type flowmeter to measure inspiratory flow. The nitrogen/NO gas mixture was injected 80 cm proximal to the Y-connector. NO concentrations were measured before the Y-piece of the breathing circuit. Cardiac output (CO) determinations were performed in triplicate by injecting 5-mL ice-cold boluses of 5% dextrose randomly through the respiratory cycle. All pressures were recorded with reference to atmospheric pressure at midthoracic level and at end-expiration. Arterial and mixed venous blood samples were analyzed for PO2, PCO2, and pH, and oxygen saturation was determined by spectrophotometry.
The experimental part of the study was started when the PaO2 reached a plateau after the institution of OLV. When the PaO2 remained constant for 30 min inside the ±5% boundary of its initial plateau value, NO doses of 4, 8, 16, and 32 ppm were randomly administered for 30 min. The stability of the PaO2 was assessed by continuous blood gas monitoring. Between two NO inhalations, a NO-free interval of at least 30 min was kept, and the animals were ventilated with the same gas mixture but without NO. Before and after each NO inhalation period, blood gas analysis and hemodynamic measurements were performed. Gas and blood samples for All values are expressed as mean ± SD. Statistical analyses were performed with statistical software (SPSS 9.01 for Windows; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). The data before and after inhalation of each NO concentration were compared by means of the paired Students t-test with Bonferroni correction for 4 groups (4, 8, 16, and 32 ppm of NO). Before the paired Students t-test was applied, data were analyzed for deviations from the Gaussian distribution by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. To compute the P value for the test of normality, the Dallall and Wilkinson (15) approximation to Lilliefors method was used. To compare the changes after inhalation of different concentrations of NO, a repeated-measures analysis of variance was performed. When significance was achieved, post hoc comparisons were made by the Tukey-Kramer multiple comparisons test.
All animals survived the study period. During OLV, the dependent lung was ventilated with a tidal volume of 328 ± 93 mL and a respiratory rate of 17 ± 4 breaths/min, producing a minute volume of ventilation of 5.3 ± 1.3 L/min. The measured positive end-expiratory pressure was 6 ± 2 cm H2O. These settings resulted in a peak airway pressure of 27 ± 6 cm H2O and a mean airway pressure of 12 ± 3 cm H2O. PaO2 increased with NO in concentrations of 4, 8, 16, and 32 ppm and returned to baseline when the administration of NO was stopped. Inhaled NO at 4 ppm improved the PaO2 by 42%, which was significantly higher than the increases at 8, 16, and 32 ppm (P < 0.01; Fig. 1). PaCO2 and pH were not altered by inhaled NO at any level, and hemodynamic variables remained unchanged throughout the study. Neither CO nor mean pulmonary artery pressure changed significantly with the application of NO (Table 1).
Shunt flow was the smallest at 4 ppm of NO (P < 0.01) and was reduced to a lesser extent by 8 ppm of NO (P < 0.05) (Table 2). NO at concentrations of 16 and 32 ppm exhibited no effect on intrapulmonary shunt flow. Perfusion to poorly ventilated regions (low A/ ) was higher than normal but revealed no changes due to NO administration. The dispersion of perfusion (log SDQ) was in the range between 0.96 and 1.21, reflecting an increased heterogeneity in pulmonary perfusion during OLV. Pulmonary perfusion shifted toward areas of low A/ ratio, whereas ventilation shifted toward areas of high A/ ratio, indicating an impaired A/ matching (Fig. 2).
In our experimental study, we have demonstrated that NO at 4 ppm improved oxygenation to a greater extent than at 8, 16, or 32 ppm, and this effect was due to a reduction in intrapulmonary shunt flow. Dose-dependent effects of NO have also been observed in studies on adults and children with ARDS. As early as 1993, Gerlach et al. (16) described the dose response of short-term NO inhalation in patients with ARDS. They demonstrated that effective doses for improvement in oxygenation are in the range of 1 ppm. When NO doses exceeded 10 ppm, arterial oxygenation declined. A dose-dependent effect in the range from 0.15 to 1.5 ppm was also found by Lu et al. (8). However, in contrast to the findings of Gerlach et al. (16), oxygenation reached a plateau at 1.5 ppm and did not worsen with larger concentrations. A similar effect was observed by Okamoto et al. (3) in seven children with ARDS. The optimum dose of NO in their study was 4 ppm, and improvements in arterial oxygenation were also observed with NO concentrations of 0.13 ppm.
Perhaps inhaled NO exerts the largest benefit to gas exchange in the lung in which the pathophysiology is governed by an increased intrapulmonary shunt, e.g., ARDS, rather than by
Whether
When the underlying gas exchange problem is one of intrapulmonary shunting, NO reduces the pulmonary vascular resistance of the normal, ventilated areas of the lung, resulting in an increased blood supply to well ventilated areas of the lung and an improvement in PaO2 (18). Consequently, NO should improve arterial oxygenation in a dose-dependent manner. In contrast to theory, we found that larger NO concentrations improved PaO2 to a lesser extent than NO at 4 ppm, and the only significant difference that was found with the multiple inert gas elimination technique was a reduction in shunt flow by 4 ppm NO. Because NO was applied when arterial PO2 during OLV had reached a plateau, a maximum HPV response in the nonventilated lung can be assumed. Thus, the finding that NO affected only intrapulmonary shunt flow is compatible with our experimental settings. However, the inverse relationship between NO dose and PaO2 remains to be elucidated. One possible explanation is that NO at larger doses spilled over into the systemic circulation (19). It has been demonstrated that S-nitrosylation of hemoglobin (SNO-Hb) preferably occurs in regions with high oxygen tension (e.g., the ventilated lung) and that the release of NO from the resultant SNO-Hb occurs at low oxygen tension (e.g., the nonventilated lung) (20). If such a spillover occurred in our study animals, perhaps NO at larger doses attenuated HPV of the upper lung. An increased blood flow into nonventilated areas of the upper lung, as detected by an increase in shunt flow during the inhalation of 16 and 32 ppm of NO, would again increase Although the underlying mechanisms require further investigation, we have shown that NO at a small dose improves arterial oxygenation during OLV to a greater extent than larger doses. Before transferring our results into clinical practice, it must be clarified whether small doses of NO are as effective in acute hypoxemia as in stable OLV. We assessed dose-dependent effects of NO when PaO2 reached a plateau of approximately 220 mm Hg, which is very different from the clinical setting. Furthermore, NO in doses between 0.1 and 4 ppm, which are effective in patients with ARDS, should be tested during OLV. A possible dose-dependent interaction of NO with volatile anesthetic should be clarified in further investigations. We used propofol because it has been demonstrated that propofol does not inhibit HPV (21) and that its use results in improved oxygenation during OLV (22). Although NO seems not to be directly responsible for the inhibition of HPV by volatile anesthetics (23), interference with the vasodilator effects of NO have been shown (24). Finally, NO was tested in normal lungs, and it cannot be excluded that the effects differ from those in diseased lungs during OLV. However, it has been demonstrated in patients with severe COPD that smaller doses of NO improve PaO2 (10). In summary, we demonstrated a dose-dependent effect of inhaled NO on arterial oxygenation during OLV. NO at 4 ppm improved PaO2 to a greater extent than at doses of 8, 16, and 32 ppm. The increase in PaO2 was due to a reduction in intrapulmonary shunt flow. The dose-dependent effects remain to be confirmed under the setting of acute hypoxemia during OLV.
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