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Mechanical Ventilation in Shock
- Emergency physicians and intensivists routinely resuscitate patients in shock.
- For patients who manifest signs of persistent shock (i.e., rising lactate), consider intubation and mechanical ventilation, even in the absence of acute respiratory failure.
- The respiratory muscles are avid consumers of oxygen. In fact, up to 50% of available O2 can be used by the respiratory muscles to perform the work of breathing.
- Initiation of mechanical ventilation can reduce oxygen consumption and allow oxygen to be shunted to other vital organs.
References
Gidwani H, Gomez H. The crashing patient: hemodynamic collapse. Curr Opin Crit Care 2017; 23:533-540.