Objective To explore the clinical application value of the simplified mechanical energy formula to guide mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome（ARDS）.Methods Twenty-four patients with ARDS who had been treated with mechanical ventilation and had good human-machine cooperation under moderate sedation were selected for a self-controlled trial.Mechanical ventilation was performed using a Myriad V800 ventilator（which can directly measure the mechanical energy value using geometric method） and the parameter values were set.A simplified formula was used to calculate mechanical energy to obtain manually calculated values

and Bland-Altman plot analysis was performed with direct ventilator measurements to verify the clinical value of the simplified formula.Results The mechanical energy values calculated using the simplified formula and those mea sured by the geometric method for mechanical ventilation in ARDS patients met the consi stency requirements（the difference between the two methods met the normal distribution

and the scatter distribution was within the 95% consistency limit of " mean difference±1.96 × standard deviation of the difference"）.Conclusion The simplified formula of mechanical energy can be directly applied to the clinic to guide mechanical ventilation in ARDS patients.