Mechanical Ventilation: Airway Pressure Release Ventilation, Alveolar Air Equation, Alveolar Pressure, Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure, Blood

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 28. Chapters: Airway pressure release ventilation, Alveolar air equation, Alveolar pressure, Bilevel positive airway pressure, Blood gas, Both respirator, Continuous mandatory ventilation, Continuous positive airway pressure, Continuous spontaneous ventilation, Dual-control modes of ventilation, Dynamic hyperinflation, Fraction of inspired oxygen, High-frequency ventilation, Intermittent mandatory ventilation, Mandatory minute ventilation, Maximum inspiratory pressure, Mean airway pressure, Modes of mechanical ventilation, Negative pressure ventilator, Nomenclature of mechanical ventilation, Peak inspiratory pressure, Plateau pressure, Positive end-expiratory pressure, Pressure control, Pressure support ventilation, SensorMedics High Frequency Oscillatory Ventilator, Table of modes of mechanical ventilation, VD/VT, Ventilator circuit. Excerpt: In medicine, mechanical ventilation is a method to mechanically assist or replace spontaneous breathing. This may involve a machine called a ventilator or the breathing may be assisted by a physician, respiratory therapist or other suitable person compressing a bag or set of bellows. There are two main divisions of mechanical ventilation: invasive ventilation and non-invasive ventilation. There are two main modes of mechanical ventilation within the two divisions: positive pressure ventilation, where air (or another gas mix) is pushed into the trachea, and negative pressure ventilation, where air is essentially sucked into the lungs. The Roman physician Galen may have been the first to describe mechanical ventilation: "If you take a dead animal and blow air through its larynx, you will fill its bronchi and watch its lungs attain the greatest distention." Vesalius too describes ventilation by inserting a reed or cane into the trachea of animals. In 1908 George Poe demonstrated his mechanical respirator by asphyxiating dogs and seemingly bringing them back to life. Mechanical ventilation is often a life-saving intervention, but carries many potential complications including pneumothorax, airway injury, alveolar damage, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Other complications include diaphragm atrophy, decreased cardiac output, and oxygen toxicity. One of the primary complications that presents in patients who are mechanically ventilated is acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ALI/ARDS are recognized as significant contributors to patient morbidity and mortality. In many healthcare systems prolonged ventilation as part of intensive care is a limited resource (in that there are only so many patients that can receive care at any given moment). It is used to support a single failing organ system (the lungs) and cannot reverse any underlying disease process (such as terminal cancer). For this reason there can be (occasionally difficult) deci