PARTIAL LIQUID VENTILATION DECREASES ALBUMIN LEAK IN THE SETTING OF ACUTE LUNG INJURY

Purpose: This study evaluated the ability of partial liquid ventilatio n (PLV, gas ventilation of the perfluorocarbon-filled lungs) to reduce the amount of lung albumin leak present in the setting of acute lung injury. Materials and Methods: An experimental controlled, randomized design was used. All studies were performed in the liquid ventilation laboratories at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Twenty-five Sprague-Dawley male rats 500 +/- 50 g were divided into five experime ntal groups: (1) CVF only (n = 5), animals were cobra venom factor (CV F) lung injured; (2) PLV-CVF (n = 5) animals received perflubron and P LV before CVF lung injury; (3) CVF-PLV (n = 5) animals received PLV af ter CVF lung injury; (4) PLV only (n = 5) animals underwent partial li quid ventilation without lung injury; and (5) Gas only (n = 5) animals underwent gas ventilation without lung injury. In all groups iodinate d bovine serum albumin (I-125-BSA) was delivered by intravenous inject ion along with CVF or a saline placebo. Results: When the CVF animals were compared with all other groups, a decrease in albumin leak was ob served for all groups when compared with the CVF only controls (P <.00 1 by ANOVA; CVF only = 1.22 +/- 0.12 versus PLV-CVF = 0.46 +/- 0.08, P < .001; CVF-PLV = 0.70 +/- 0.25, P < .001; PLV only = 0.22 +/- 0.01, P < .001; Gas only = 0.17 +/- 0.02, P < .001). Conclusions: These data suggest that intratracheal instillation of perfluorocarbon before or after induction of lung injury results in a reduction in pulmonary alb umin leak. Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B. Saunders Company.