TIE-KIN

In cardiac surgery, the risk of postoperative complications is an important factor that healthcare professionals must consider when planning treatment. One of the most common complications after this type of surgery is atelectasis, affecting 30 to 40% of patients. It can be symptomatic or asymptomatic. The challenge, therefore, is to detect it in the asymptomatic phase to avoid more serious complications. The primary treatment is respiratory physiotherapy, but the application methods (number of sessions, need for adjuvants, etc.) are currently arbitrary. Chest X-ray (CXR) is the gold standard test for detecting atelectasis. However, CXR only provides relative, static accuracy and visualisation of the lungs. It is generally performed some time after respiratory therapy sessions, which limits its usefulness for adjusting support in real time. In this context, electrical impedance tomography (EIT) appears to be a promising tool. This non-irradiating, non-invasive technique enables real-time evaluation of regional lung ventilation distribution at the patient's bedside. It could therefore be a relevant indicator for the early detection of atelectasis, facilitating adjustments to physiotherapy management at a later stage. Although several studies have confirmed the validity and reliability of EIT measurements for documenting ventilation distribution in comparison with pulmonary function tests and CT scans, no studies have focused on CXR. We hypothesise that EIT is a valid and reliable alternative to CXR for guiding respiratory physiotherapy sessions in cardiac surgery patients.