Cardiopulmonary Monitoring in the Prone Patient

Prone position (PP) is a safe and feasible maneuver that has been shown to improve survival provided that the maneuver is applied correctly (early and prolonged) in appropriately selected patients (severe ARDS). Although clinical guidelines recommend the use of PP in these patients, recent epidemiological studies have found that PP remains underutilized. To better understand the beneficial effects of PP, it is important to evaluate the physiological changes that occur during this maneuver. This chapter describes and analyzes the changes induced by PP on the cardiopulmonary system. Monitoring of these physiological changes can help improve the clinical management of patients. The maneuver must be performed carefully, with close adherence to the key steps described in this chapter.