THE RELATION OF PNEUMOTHORAX AND OTHER AIR LEAKS TO MORTALITY IN THE ACUTE RESPIRATORY-DISTRESS SYNDROME

Background In patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome, p neumothorax and other air leaks - any extrusion of air outside the tra cheobronchial tree - have been attributed to high ventilatory pressure s or volumes and linked to increased mortality. Methods We analyzed da ta from a prospective trial of aerosolized synthetic surfactant in 725 patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome induced by seps is. We compared the ventilatory pressures and volumes in the patients without any air leaks (the highest values during the five-day study) w ith the pressures and volumes in those with pneumothorax or with any a ir leaks (the highest values during the 16- and 24-hour periods before the complication developed). Results Fifty patients (6.9 percent) had pneumothorax, and 77 (10.6 percent) had pneumothorax or other air lea ks. There were no significant differences between patients with air le aks and those without air leaks in any pressure or volume examined. Ov erall mortality at 30 days was 40.0 percent (95 percent confidence int erval, 36.4 to 43.6); among the patients with pneumothorax, it was 46. 0 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 32.2 to 59.8), and among th ose without pneumothorax, it was 39.3 percent (95 percent confidence i nterval, 35.6 to 43.0; P=0.35). The mortality rate was 45.5 percent (9 5 percent confidence interval, 34.4 to 56.6) in the group with any air leaks and 39.0 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 35.3 to 42.8) in the group without air leaks (P=0.28). Conclusions In patients with sepsis-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome who were receiving mechanical ventilation with conventional pressures and volumes, there were no significant correlations between high ventilatory pressures o r volumes and the development of pneumothorax or other air leaks. Pneu mothorax or other air leaks were not associated with a significantly i ncreased mortality rate. (C) 1998, Massachusetts Medical Society.