Background
ventilation-induced lung injury, atelectasis
ATELECTASIS
Ensuring optimal ventilation during invasive ventilation contributes to lung protection. High ventilation pressures, high tidal volumes and regional atelectasis formation contribute significantly to ventilation-induced lung injury [There are already numerous publications for the use of EIT measurements in adults. Data also exist for larger children with a thoracic circumference greater than 70 cm. However, no pediatric EIT belts (thoracic circumference ˂ 70 cm) were commercially available for the PulmoVista EIT device from Dräger until 2021. Therefore, one objective of the current study was to collect data on infants, toddlers, and children with a chest circumference between 36 and 70 cm.Gravity affects the ventilation distribution of ventilated lungs. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in ventilation distribution during general anesthesia in lung-healthy ventilated children. The question is whether the influence of gravity can be detected by EIT, although the dead weight of the lungs is lower in children than in adults. Furthermore, this study aims to quantify the presumed homogeneity of the ventilation distribution in lung-healthy children by calculating the Global Inhomogeneity index (GI).