| Fernandez-Bustamante et al.,1 in their study evaluating the
early effects of tidal volume on lung injury biomarkers in surgical
patients with healthy lungs, showed that tidal volume
(VT) of 6 versus 10 ml/kg did not have any significant effect
on inflammatory biomarkers after 60 min of ventilation.
The effect of VT on healthy lungs has always been controversial.
Some of the studies having addressed this issue
in surgical patients have found no differences in either the
lung inflammatory response or outcome between low versus
high VT with short ventilatory durations (1 to 3 h)2,3; yet,
those having suggested that high VT increases proinflammatory
mediators have focused on longer ventilatory times.4–6
Furthermore, bronchoalveolar lavage concentrations of proinflammatory
biomarkers have been introduced as a more
reliable marker of lung injury than plasma levels of these
markers.7 Hence, using plasma levels of lung injury biomarkers
within 60 min of volutrauma is not an appropriate
method for comparing the inflammatory biomarkers concentration.
Yet, administration of other techniques rather than
plasma levels of biomarkers with longer periods following |