Successful therapy of unilateral pulmonary emphysema: mechanical ventilation with extremely short inspiratory time.
We describe a novel approach to the mechanical ventilation of two neonates with life-threatening unilateral pulmonary emphysema (UPE). Using a standard time-cycled, pressure-limited ventilator, we achieved resolution of UPE with shorter inspiratory times than previously reported effective in human newborns (0.10-0.15 sec). We elected this ventilatory strategy in order to direct tidal volume preferentially toward units of lung with relatively normal time constants, while avoiding inflation of longer time-constant emphysematous areas.
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006819:Hyaline Membrane Disease / Q000150:complications; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D011656:Pulmonary Emphysema / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000379:methods*; D013990:Tidal Volume; D013997:Time Factors