The VALUE Study is a two-phase, prospective clinical trial conducted at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (KCMH). The study evaluates the prevalence of mechanical ventilation (MV) separation failure in post-open upper abdominal surgery patients and investigates whether non-invasive bedside respiratory monitoring tools can rapidly predict extubation failure.
The protocol focuses on Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) metrics-specifically regional ventilation distribution and the absolute ventral-to-dorsal difference-alongside ventilator-derived measures of respiratory drive. It also tracks physiological responses and clinical outcomes, including dyspnea using the Intensive Care Respiratory Distress Observation Scale (IC-RDOS) and the ROX index, across standard post-extubation oxygen delivery methods (nasal cannula vs. High-Flow Nasal Cannula \[HFNC\]).