The effects of mechanical ventilation on the development of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a severe lung illness characterized by inflammation and fluid accumulation in the respiratory system. Historically, ARDS and other forms of respiratory failure have been treated using mechanical ventilation to help maintain gas exchange in the lungs. However, clinical investigators are beginning to discover the adverse effects of mechanical ventilation if it is not applied properly. Specifically, excessive ventilator volumes and pressures may exacerbate existing lung injury and increase hospital mortality. Furthermore, aggressive ventilation may cause lung injury and trigger an inflammatory response that is characteristic of ARDS. These findings have alarmed the critical care community, and many studies have been conducted to find mechanical ventilator settings that reduce mortality in patients with ARDS. However, there have been no firm recommendations on the optimal settings for patients who require ventilator therapy for reasons apart from respiratory failure. In this thesis, we retrospectively examine a large medical database (MIMIC-II) to study the relationship between mechanical ventilation and the development of ARDS. Specifically, our goals are to (1) find patients who did not have ARDS at the beginning of mechanical ventilation but who later developed the disease; (2) identify physiologic and ventilator-associated risk factors for ARDS; and (3) develop a text analysis algorithm to automatically extract clinical findings from radiology (chest x-ray) reports. Our findings suggest that acute respiratory distress syndrome is a relatively common illness in patients who require mechanical ventilation in the ICU (152 of 789 without ARDS at the outset eventually developed the disease).

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Jia, Xiaoming, M. Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Roger Mark.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/41629

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/41629