Objective: To evaluate the predictive value of central venous saturation to detect extubation
failure in difficult-to-wean patients. Design: Cohort, multicentric, clinical study. Setting: Three
medical-surgical intensive care units. Patients: All difficult-to-wean patients (defined as
failure to tolerate the first 2-hr T-tube trial), mechanically ventilated for> 48 hrs, were
extubated after undergoing a two-step weaning protocol (measurements of predictors
followed by a T-tube trial). Extubation failure was defined as the need of reintubation within …