title: Mechanical ventilation. Physiology, equipment design, and management.
abstract: The major goals of mechanical ventilation are the prevention of significant respiratory acidosis and the correction of arterial hypoxemia. Ventilators are categorized as negative- or positive-pressure types, depending on their effect on airway pressure. Positive-pressure ventilators, which are used in the treatment of acute respiratory failure, may be subclassified as pressure-, volume-, or time-cycled. Volume types provide stable tidal volumes and inspiratory oxygen concentrations over the range of changing ventilatory conditions seen in acute respiratory failure. Ventilation may be provided in a number of modes. No clear-cut advantage of intermittent mandatory ventilation over assisted mechanical ventilation has been demonstrated. By following simple guidelines, the clinician can initiate mechanical ventilation that provides an ideal ventilatory pattern.
mesh_terms: D000142:Acidosis, Respiratory / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000628:therapy; D011175:Positive-Pressure Respiration / Q000295:instrumentation; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D013990:Tidal Volume; D012122:Ventilators, Mechanical