Is airway occlusion pressure useful to predict successful weaning from mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory failure?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether airway occlusion pressure (P0.1) would be a useful predictor for successful weaning in mechanically ventilated patients with acute respiratory failure. We studied 23 marginal weaning candidates. Fourteen patients were able to be weaned from the ventilator, and 9 patients were not able to be weaned. P0.1 and other respiratory parameters were measured just prior to weaning and at the end of weaning or at the time of discontinuation of weaning. The mean value of P0.1 in the failed group was higher than that in the successful group both before and after weaning periods. However, P0.1 varied widely among patients and did not separate the failure group from the success group because of overlap between the two. There were significant differences between the two groups of the conventional weaning parameters, such as respiratory rate, minute ventilation, PaO2, and oxygen equivalent. We conclude that P0.1 is helpful to predict successful weaning. However, it can not be used as a single parameter for weaning because of the wide variations of absolute values among patients with acute respiratory failure.