Airway driving pressure, easily measured as plateau pressure minus PEEP, is a surrogate for alveolar stress and strain. However, the effect of its targeted reduction remains unclear. In this multicentre trial, patients undergoing lung resection surgery were randomised to either a driving pressure group (n=650) receiving an alveolar recruitment/individualised PEEP to deliver the lowest driving pressure or to a conventional protective ventilation group (n=650) with fixed PEEP of 5 cm H₂O. The primary outcome was a composite of pulmonary complications within 7 days postoperatively. The modified intention-to-treat analysis included 1170 patients (mean [standard deviation, sd]; age, 63 [10] yr; 47% female). The mean driving pressure was 7.1 cm H₂O in the driving pressure group vs 9.2 cm H₂O in the protective ventilation group (mean difference [95% confidence interval, CI]; -2.1 [-2.4 to -1.9] cm H₂O; P<0.001). The incidence of pulmonary complications was not different between the two groups: driving pressure group (233/576, 40.5%) vs protective ventilation group (254/594, 42.8%) (risk difference -2.3%; 95% CI, -8.0% to 3.3%; P=0.42). Intraoperatively, lung compliance (mean [sd], 42.7 [12.4] vs 33.5 [11.1] ml cm H₂O^-1; P<0.001) and Pa_o2 (median [inter-quartile range], 21.5 [14.5 to 30.4] vs 19.5 [13.5 to 29.1] kPa; P=0.03) were higher and the need for rescue ventilation was less frequent (6.8% vs 10.8%; P=0.02) in the driving pressure group. In lung resection surgery, a driving pressure-guided ventilation improved pulmonary mechanics intraoperatively, but did not reduce the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications compared with a conventional protective ventilation. NCT04260451.

Bo Rim Kim, Soo-Hyuk Yoon, and Ho-Jin Lee. Korean J Pain 2023;36:149-62. https://doi.org/10.3344/kjp.23080

Protective ventilation is a prevailing ventilatory strategy these days and is comprised of small tidal volume, limited inspiratory pressure, and application of positive end-expiratory pressure. However, several retrospective studies recently suggested that tidal volume, inspiratory pressure, and positive end-expiratory pressure are not related to patient outcomes, or only related when they influenced the driving pressure. Therefore, this review introduces the concept of driving pressure and looks into the possibility of driving pressure-guided ventilation as a new ventilatory strategy, especially in thoracic surgery where postoperative pulmonary complications are common, thus, lung protection is utmost important.