Ventilator settings and outcome of respiratory failure in paraquat-induced pulmonary injury

Paraquat is a nonselective contact herbicide that has significant importance in clinical toxicology due to its high mortality rate. The cause of mortality in the acute phase of poisoning is a multi-organ failure while in the sub-acute phase is alveolar injury and lung fibrosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of mechanical ventilation (MV) in paraquat-induced pulmonary injury and its consequential respiratory failure (PIPI-CRF). This retrospective descriptive analytical study was done to investigate the outcome of patients who had developed PIPI-CRF and underwent conventional treatments with invasive MV in three teaching hospitals in Shiraz, Iran, from March 2010 to February 2015. In total, 44 patients (mean age of 27.9 ± 9.98 years) had undergone MV due to PIPI-CRF. None of the patients had a successful wean off from the ventilator. Although all the patients’ were on aggressive life support and full efforts to resuscitate were carried out in case of cardiac arrest, all of them expired. We suggest that in the case of conventional treatment of paraquat poisoning, only noninvasive ventilation should be applied. However, considering the chance of patient’s survival performing novel treatments, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), lung protective ventilation with optimal positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) could be applied only in such circumstances.