Rodrigo Muñoz Cofré; Patricio Araneda Madrid; Mariano del Sol; Felipe Álvarez Pérez; Camilo Pérez Riquelme; Máximo Escobar Cabello & Jorge Valenzuela Vásquez

The lungs are the predominant site of COVID-19 infection. This can lead to severe acute respiratory syndrome (ARDS). In view of its severe symptoms, mechanical ventilation (MV) and its ventilatory mechanics values appear as a fundamental tool. Chest radiography (CR) is a complement to analyze the state of progress of this pathology, although this sometimes depends on the experience of the health team. Thus, the aim of this research was to explore the relationship of ventilatory mechanics and radiographic measures with connection time to MV in COVID-19 patients. Retrospective study, which included 23 patients on MV. Information on ventilatory mechanics variables was collected; PEEP, plateau pressure, distension pressure and static compliance. And from CR, lung height and width, costodiaphragmatic angle and intercostal space were measured. The results indicated that ventilatory mechanics variables such as PEEP and plateau were significantly related to connection time to MV (r = 0.449; p = 0.035 and r = 0.472; p = 0.026), while the radiographic variables Constructed on the basis of the costodiaphragmatic angle and the intercostal space, they showed similar behaviors (r = 0.462; p = 0.046 and r = -0.543; p = 0.009). In conclusion, the pressure resulting from mechanical ventilator programming, together with the structural changes observed in CR, are related to the connection time to MV.

MUÑOZ-COFRÉ, R.; ARANEDA-MADRID, P.; DEL SOL, M.; ÁLVAREZ-PÉREZ, F.; PÉREZRIQUELME, C.; ESCO- BAR-CABELLO, M. & V ALENZUELA-VÁSQUEZ, J. Relations of Ventilatory Mechanical and Radiographic Measures with the ConnectionTime to Mechanical Ventilation in Patients COVID- 19: A Preliminary Analysis. Int. J. Morphol., 38(6):1580-1585, 2020.