SPONTANEOUS BREATHING TRIAL

When a critically ill patient begins to recover, they may no longer need the mechanical ventilator to support their breathing.

Once the amount of breathing support is low enough, the patient no longer needs blood pressure supporting drugs and the patient's underlying admission problem has resolved, we may give the patient a trial of breathing on their own.

This is initially done with the breathing tube in place, by reducing the amount of support from the ventilator to a minimum. The word spontaneous means "without assistance", or "on the patient's own effort". A Spontaneous Breathing Trial (SBT) means to give the patient a trial of breathing on their own. If they breathe successfully and maintain adequate blood gases, removal of the tube (extubation) is considered.