Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.,
Volume 162, Number 1, July 2000, 271-277
Effect of Partial Liquid Ventilation on Pulmonary
Vascular Permeability and Edema after Experimental
Acute Lung Injury
NEALE R.
LANGE,
JAMES K.
KOZLOWSKI,
RENE
GUST,
STEVEN D.
SHAPIRO,
and
DANIEL P.
SCHUSTER
Departments of Radiology, Pediatrics, and Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
We evaluated the effects of partial liquid ventilation (PLV) with
two different dosages of the perfluorocarbon LiquiVent (perflubron) on pulmonary vascular permeability and edema formation
after oleic acid (OA)-induced acute lung injury in dogs. We used
imaging with positron emission tomography to measure fractional
pulmonary blood flow, lung water concentration (LWC), and the
pulmonary transcapillary escape rate (PTCER) of 68Ga-labeled transferrin at 5 and 21 h after lung injury in five dogs undergoing conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV), five dogs undergoing
low-dose PLV (perflubron at 10 ml/kg), and four dogs undergoing
high dose PLV (perflubron at 30 ml/kg). A positive end-expiratory
pressure of 7.5 cm H2O was used in all dogs. After OA (0.08 ml/kg)-
induced lung injury, there were no significant differences or trends
for PTCER or LWC at any time when the PLV groups were compared with the CMV group. However, lung tissue myeloperoxidase
activity was significantly lower in the combined PLV group than in
the CMV group (p = 0.016). We conclude that after OA-induced
lung injury, the addition of PLV to CMV does not directly attenuate pulmonary vascular leak or lung water accumulation. Rather,
the benefits of such treatment may be due to modifications of the
inflammatory response.
