During a 5-year surveillance, Tremblay et al reported that among 163 consecutive hospitalized AML patients, with a range in AML status (including 38 having received a HSCT), only 32 were admitted to ICU and supported with mechanical ventilation (cumulative incidence 19.6%)[ 17].
All data concerning dose of medication and duration of mechanical ventilation concern cumulative data from admission to the ICU up to the time of measurement.
The principal outcomes consisted of: cumulative survival without mechanical ventilation or oxygen dependency at 30 days; mortality at 30 days; therapy failure; crossover rate; and persisting pulmonary problems defined as oxygen dependency or still being on a ventilator at 30 days.
This association was also found when cumulative time on pressure control ventilation (R = 0.71, P = 0.03) and pressure support ventilation (P = 0.05, R = 0.66) were considered separately, as well as for cumulative dose of propofol (R = 0.66, P = 0.05) and piritramide (R = 0.79, P = 0.01).
Secondary outcomes included intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay, development of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH), duration of mechanical ventilation (MV) and cumulative fluid balance, organ dysfunction, and vasopressor therapy requirements after 1 week.
Time in the intensive care unit and on mechanical ventilation and the cumulative frequency of pneumonia, mortality, and accidental extubation were documented.
Since a clear change of primary study design has progressively occurred along with incorporation in everyday practice of new evidence generated by research, we evaluated the impact of publication date on the overall effect of prone ventilation by a cumulative meta-analysis.
Figure 4 Kaplan-Meier plot for cumulative survival and days on mechanical ventilation.
The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze differences in cumulative survival and duration of mechanical ventilation.
Two recent meta-analyses comparing high-frequency ventilation with CV, used cumulative meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis to explore heterogeneity [ 19- 21].
