Pressure Support Breaths Triggered by Total Artificial Heart in Invasive and Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation

Because of the risks associated with extended mechanical ventilation, it is desirable to extubate patients as early as possible. However, weaning patients from mechanical ventilation too early has risks associated with it as well. Thus, it is important to note that in the two cases presented here, pressure-supported breaths were falsely triggered by a patient’s a Syncardia ® total artificial heart (TAH), influencing decisions about weaning the patient from mechanical ventilation.