Intraoperative mechanical ventilation strategies in patients undergoing one-lung ventilation: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs), which are not uncommon in one-lung ventilation, are among the main causes of postoperative death after lung surgery. Intra-operative ventilation strategies can influence the incidence of PPCs. High tidal volume (V(T)) and increased airway pressure may lead to lung injury, while pressure-controlled ventilation and lung-protective strategies with low V(T) may have protective effects against lung injury. In this meta-analysis, we aim to investigate the effects of different ventilation strategies, including pressure-controlled ventilation (PCV), volume-controlled ventilation (VCV), protective ventilation (PV) and conventional ventilation (CV), on PPCs in patients undergoing one-lung ventilation. We hypothesize that both PV with low V(T) and PCV have protective effects against PPCs in one-lung ventilation. METHODS: A systematic search (PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and Ovid MEDLINE; in May 2015) was performed for randomized trials comparing PCV with VCV or comparing PV with CV in one-lung ventilation. Methodological quality was evaluated using the Cochrane tool for risk. The primary outcome was the incidence of PPCs. The secondary outcomes included the length of hospital stay, intraoperative plateau airway pressure (P(plateau)), oxygen index (PaO(2)/FiO(2)) and mean arterial pressure (MAP). RESULTS: In this meta-analysis, 11 studies (436 patients) comparing PCV with VCV and 11 studies (657 patients) comparing PV with CV were included. Compared to CV, PV decreased the incidence of PPCs (OR 0.29; 95 % CI 0.15–0.57; P < 0.01) and intraoperative P(plateau) (MD −3.75; 95 % CI −5.74 to −1.76; P < 0.01) but had no significant influence on the length of hospital stay or MAP. Compared to VCV, PCV decreased intraoperative P(plateau) (MD −1.46; 95 % CI −2.54 to −0.34; P = 0.01) but had no significant influence on PPCs, PaO(2)/FiO(2) or MAP. CONCLUSIONS: PV with low V(T) was associated with the reduced incidence of PPCs compared to CV. However, PCV and VCV had similar effects on the incidence of PPCs. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-016-2867-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.