LUNG ULTRASOUND AS AN ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR THE INDICATION OF NONINVASIVE MECHANICAL VENTILATION AFTER CARDIAC SURGERY

Background: The aim of this study was to verify whether LUS can assist in indication of NIV in patients undergoing CS and whether this has an impact on the length of stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and hospital. Methods: An observational, retrospective study was conducted for compare data among patients in the postoperative period of CS who used or not NIV after evaluation with LUS. The normality of the variables was tested by the Shapiro-Wilk test. The significance level was considered p=0.05 in the Mann Whitney test. Results: 111 patients (men, n.83) were included and divided into two groups. Group 1 (n.74) patients who used NIV and in Group 2 (G2 n.37) those who did not. The duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay in the ICU and hospital were, respectively: (G1) 11.3 ± 30.3 X (G2) 6.3 ±8.2 hours (p=0.002); (G1) 6.7 ±6.2 X (G2) 4.7 ±2.0 days (p=0.01) and (G1) 14.4 ±12.3 X (G2) 11.4 ±9.9 days (p=0.02). Conclusions: Results of this study suggest that LUS makes it possible to early identify pulmonary complications and facilitate indication of NIV to reverse dysfunctions of the respiratory system in patients undergoing CS