EIT-Guided Visual Feedback During Incentive Spirometry for Postoperative Atelectasis

Starting soon · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Postoperative Atelectasis

In brief

This single-center randomized controlled trial will evaluate whether real-time visual feedback from electrical impedance tomography (EIT) improves the immediate distribution of lung ventilation during incentive spirometry in adults with postoperative atelectasis. Approximately 60 participants will be randomized 1:1 to receive either EIT-guided visual feedback or standardized verbal guidance during one session of 30 incentive-spirometry breaths. The primary outcome is the change in dorsal ventilation fraction from before training to 5 minutes after training. Secondary outcomes include inspiratory capacity, ventilation homogeneity, dependent silent spaces, end-expiratory lung impedance, oxygenation, in-hospital intubation or reintubation, and intervention-related adverse events.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07681232

Run by

Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital

People needed

60

Starts

2026-07-01

Expected to finish

2027-12-31

Last updated by the study team

2026-07-02

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age 18 years or older.
• Admitted to an intensive care unit or postoperative monitoring unit after major thoracic or upper-abdominal surgery; tracheal tube removed; spontaneously breathing; and clinically stable.
• Alert and able to understand and follow incentive-spirometry and EIT instructions.
• Bedside lung ultrasound shows atelectasis or markedly reduced aeration in dorsal or posterolateral lung regions, with the lung-ultrasound assessment recorded.
• Baseline EIT during quiet breathing in a semi-recumbent position shows insufficient dorsal ventilation with potential for improvement; dorsal ventilation fraction below 50%.
• Written informed consent provided by the participant or legally authorized representative according to the ethics-approved process, with participant re-consent when decision-making capacity returns.

You may not qualify if…

• Ongoing invasive mechanical ventilation or noninvasive ventilation, or high-flow nasal oxygen when study conditions cannot be maintained stably.
• Hemodynamic instability or inability to tolerate a semi-recumbent position.
• Inability to cooperate with training or impaired consciousness.
• Unsuitable for EIT monitoring, including an implanted pacemaker or defibrillator incompatible with the device, severe skin disease at the electrode-belt site, or known relevant allergy.
• Severe underlying pulmonary disease likely to substantially affect ventilation distribution and obscure the intervention effect.
• Chest-wall deformity or severe scoliosis affecting EIT image quality.
• Body mass index greater than 35 kg/m2.
• Pregnancy or breastfeeding.
• Current participation in another interventional clinical trial that could interfere with study outcomes.
• Any other condition that, in the investigator's judgment, makes participation inappropriate.

Where it is running

• Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University — Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.