High-frequency ventilation: is there a clinical role?
Mechanical ventilation of the lungs is an integral component of modern medical practice, being utilized predominantly in the operating room and intensive care unit.  The first mechanical ventilators were of the negative-pressure type.  Currently, positive-pressure mechanical ventilation with frequency rates of up to 60 breaths per minute is referred to as conventional mechanical ventilation.  In the 1960s, Sjöstrand developed the concept of high-frequency positive-pressure ventilation.  This development was a logical continuation of physiology studies that built on earlier observations, which were then directly applied to clinical use.  This paper is a synopsis of the current rationale for the clinical use of high-frequency ventilation.
Department of Surgery, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
R B
RB
Hecker
D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D006612:High-Frequency Ventilation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D012119:Respiration / Q000502:physiology