Protective versus Conventional Ventilation for Surgery

Abstract

This individual patient meta-analysis of 2,127 patients ventilated under general anesthesia for surgery from 15 randomized controlled trials shows that intraoperative ventilation with low tidal volume protects against postoperative pulmonary complications, but further trials are necessary to define the role of intraoperative higher positive end–expiratory pressure to prevent postoperative pulmonary complications after major abdominal surgery.