Dorsal Push and Abdominal Binding Improve Respiratory Compliance and Driving Pressure in Proned Coronavirus Disease 2019 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

We describe seven proned patients with coronavirus disease 2019-related acute respiratory distress syndrome in whom a paradoxical decrease in driving pressure reversibly occurred during passive, volume-controlled ventilation when compressing the lower back by a sustained “dorsal push.” We offer a potential explanation for these unexpected observations and suggest the possible importance of eliciting this response for lung-protective ventilation of similar patients. DESIGN/SETTING: Case series at a single teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Minnesota. Measurements were recorded from continuously monitored airway pressure and flow data. PATIENTS: Nonconsecutive and nonrandomized sample of coronavirus disease 2019 acute respiratory distress syndrome patients who were already prone and paralyzed for optimized lung protective clinical management while inhaling pure oxygen. INTERVENTIONS: Sustained, firm manual pressure applied over the lower back in all patients, followed by abdominal binding in a subset of these. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Respiratory system driving pressure declined and respiratory system compliance improved in seven patients with the dorsal push maneuver. In a subset of four of these, abdominal binding sustained those improvements over >3 hours. CONCLUSIONS: Sustained compressive force applied to the dorsum of the passive and prone patient with severe respiratory failure due to coronavirus disease pneumonia may elicit a paradoxical response characterized by improved compliance and for a given tidal volume, lower plateau, and driving pressures. Such findings, which suggest end-tidal overinflation within the aerated part of the diseased lung despite the already compressed anterior chest wall of prone positioning, complement and extend those observations recently described for the supine position in coronavirus disease 2019 acute respiratory distress syndrome.