Molecular pathway linking ICU ventilation to brain damage

At least 30 percent of patients in intensive care units (ICUs) suffer some form of mental dysfunction as reflected in anxiety, depression, and especially delirium. In mechanically-ventilated ICU patients, the incidence of delirium is particularly high, about 80 percent, and may be due in part to damage in the hippocampus, though how ventilation is increasing the risk of damage and mental impairment has remained elusive.  A new study found a molecular mechanism that may explain the connection between mechanical ventilation and hippocampal damage in ICU patients.  
The investigators, including Adrian Gonz