BACKGROUND: Early mobilization during critical illness is safe and has beneficial effects on functional outcomes. However, its impact on pulmonary function has not been thoroughly explored. We hypothesized that a sitting position out of bed coupled with exercise could result in an improvement in oxygenation and lung aeration. METHODS: The study was conducted on a cohort of adult subjects within a week of their admission to an ICU. Subjects were transferred to a chair and undertook a 15-min session of exercise, either active or passive. Subjects in the control group were only transferred to a chair. Electrical impedance tomography, a reliable bedside technique monitoring regional lung aeration and the distribution of ventilation, was continuously performed, and blood gases were assessed at baseline and 20 min post-exercise. RESULTS: The cohort included 40 subjects, 17 of whom were mechanically ventilated and 23 spontaneously breathing. The control group for each modality consisted of 5 mechanically ventilated or 5 spontaneously breathing subjects. Mild hypoxemia was present in 45% of the spontaneously breathing cohort, whereas the mechanically ventilated subjects demonstrated moderate (50%) or severe (12%) hypoxemia. Compared with the control group, early mobilization induced a significant increase in lung aeration. In mechanically ventilated subjects, lung aeration increased, especially in the anterior lung regions (mean impedance [95% CI]: T1 (baseline in bed) 5 1,265 [691-1,839]; T2 (chair sitting) 5 2,003 [1,042-2,963]; T3 (exercise) 5 1,619 [810 2,427]; T4 (post exercise in chair) 5 2,320 [1,455]). In spontaneously breathing subjects, lung aeration increased mainly in the posterior lung regions (mean impedance [95% CI]: T1 5 380 [124-637]; T2 5 655 [226-1,084]; T3 5 621 [335-906]; T4 5 600 ).
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