The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 23, 555-559, Copyright © 1977 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Effects of PEEP on cardiovascular dynamics after open-heart surgery: a new postoperative monitoring technique
TA Angerpointner, AE Farnsworth and BT Williams
The circulatory effects of incremental increases in positive end-
expiratory pressure ventilation (PEEP) were assessed on 11 occasions in
post-operative cardiac surgical patients by phasic aortic blood flow
measurements and high-fidelity pressure recordings from which flow and
pressure-flow derivatives of cardiac performance were calculated. At 15 cm
H2O PEEP, mean arterial blood pressure was decreased by 10%, stroke volume
and cardiac output by 15%, and peak left ventricular power by 21%. Although
these indices promptly returned to control levels when PEEP was
discontinued, levels of PEEP above 10 cm H2O should be used with caution
for this group of patients.