Prone position is a key component to treat hypoxemia in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, most studies evaluating it exclude patients with brain injuries without any medical evidence.

Methods

This study includes a systematic review to determine whether brain-injured patients were excluded in studies evaluating prone position on acute respiratory distress syndrome; a prospective study including consecutive brain-injured patients needing prone position. The primary endpoint was the evaluation of cerebral blood flow using transcranial Doppler after prone positioning. Secondary outcomes were intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure, and tissue oxygen pressure.

Results

From 8,183 citations retrieved, 120 studies were included in the systematic review. Among them, 90 studies excluded brain-injured patients (75%) without any justification, 16 included brain-injured patients (4 randomized, 7 nonrandomized studies, 5 retrospective), and 14 did not retrieve brain-injured data. Eleven patients were included in the authors’ pilot study. No reduction of cerebral blood flow surrogates was observed during prone positioning, with diastolic speed values (mean ± SD) ranging from 37.7 ± 16.2 cm/s to 45.2 ± 19.3 cm/s for the right side (P = 0.897) and 39.6 ± 18.2 cm/s to 46.5 ± 21.3 cm/s for the left side (P = 0.569), and pulsatility index ranging from 1.14 ± 0.31 to 1.0 ± 0.32 for the right side (P = 0.145) and 1.14 ± 0.31 to 1.02 ± 0.2 for the left side (P = 0.564) before and during prone position.

Conclusions

Brain-injured patients are largely excluded from studies evaluating prone position in acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, cerebral blood flow seems not to be altered considering increasing of mean arterial pressure during the session. Systematic exclusion of brain-injured patients appears to be unfounded, and prone position, while at risk in brain-injured patients, should be evaluated on these patients to review recommendations, considering close monitoring of neurologic and hemodynamic parameters.

Editor’s Perspective
What We Already Know about This Topic
  • Prone positioning is a critical therapy to treat hypoxemia with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, most studies evaluating prone positioning exclude patients with brain injury.
What This Article Tells Us That Is New
  • The authors evaluated cerebral blood flow in brain-injury patients after prone positioning using transcranial Doppler, intracranial pressure, cerebral perfusion pressure, and tissue oxygen pressure monitoring in 11 patients. In a pilot study, cerebral blood flow was not altered during increased mean arterial pressure during prone positioning in the setting of neurologic and hemodynamic monitoring.