The patient-ventilator data over the past few hours demonstrates an increased peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) with a constant transairway pressure (PTA). The respiratory therapist should con-clude which of the following?
a. Static compliance (CS) has increased.
b. Static compliance (CS) has decreased.
c. Airway resistance (Raw) has increased.
d. Airway resistance (Raw) has decreased.
ANS: B
The PIP represents the amount of pressure needed to overcome both elastance and airway re-sistance. The Pplateau is the amount of pressure required to overcome elastance alone, and is the pressure used to calculate the static compliance. Since PTA has stayed the same, it can be con-cluded that Raw has remained the same. Therefore, the reason the PIP has increased is because of an increase in the Pplateau. This correlates to a decrease in CS.
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