Pulmonary barotrauma as a complication of mechanical ventilation for management of COVID-19 associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (CARDS) Authors Shahmeer Khan Department of Radiology, Dr. Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Kiran Hilal Department of Radiology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Ainan Arshad Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Avinash Nankani 4th Year MBBS Student, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan Syeda Zoha Zehra Rizvi 3rd Year MBBS Student, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan Tanveer Ul Haq Department of Radiology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan DOI: https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.7900 Keywords: COVID-19, Respiratory distress syndrome, Barotrauma, Pulmonary ventilation, Mediastinal emphysema Abstract Objectives: To identify that incidence of pulmonary barotrauma secondary to mechanical ventilation for the management of acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with coronavirus-disease-2019, and to compare it with the incidence of pulmonary barotrauma trauma secondary to mechanical ventilation associated with all the other causes. Method: The retrospective case-control study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised data from October 2020 to March 2021 of patients who underwent mechanical ventilation. The data was divided into two groups. Data of acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with coronavirus-disease-2019 was in group 1, and that of acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with any other cause in control group 2. Medical records were reviewed to obtain demographic and clinical data, while the institutional picture archiving and communication system was used to review radiological images. Data was analysed using SPSS 24. Results: Of the 261 cases, 115(44%) were in group 1; 87(75.6%) males and 28(24.3%) females. There were 146(56%) controls in group 2; 96(65.7%) males and 50(34.2%) females. There were 142(54.4%) subjects aged >60 years; 61(43%) in group 1 and 81(57%) in group 2. The incidence of pulmonary barotrauma in group 1 was 39(34%) and 8(5.5%) in group 2 (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Mechanical ventilation in the management of acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with coronavirus-disease-2019 was found to be associated with a significantly higher incidence of pulmonary barotrauma than acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with any other cause. Key Words: COVID-19, Respiratory distress syndrome, Barotrauma, Pulmonary ventilation, Mediastinal emphysema. Author Biographies Shahmeer Khan, Department of Radiology, Dr. Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Consultant Radiologist Ainan Arshad, Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Assistant Professor of medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, National Stadium road Karachi. Avinash Nankani, 4th Year MBBS Student, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan 4th year medical student, Dow university of health sciences, Karachi, Pakistan. Syeda Zoha Zehra Rizvi, 3rd Year MBBS Student, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan 3rd year medical student, Jinnah sindh medical university, Karachi, Pakistan. Tanveer Ul Haq, Department of Radiology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan Professor of radiology, The Aga Khan university Hospital, National Stadium road, Karachi, Downloads Full Text Article Published 2023-12-24 How to Cite Khan, S., Kiran Hilal, Arshad, A., Nankani, A., Zehra Rizvi, S. Z., & Ul Haq, T. (2023). Pulmonary barotrauma as a complication of mechanical ventilation for management of COVID-19 associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (CARDS). Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 74(1), 43–47. https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.7900 More Citation Formats ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver Download Citation Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX Issue Vol. 74 No. 1 (2024): JANUARY Section RESEARCH ARTICLE License Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.