INTRODUCTION — Conventional mechanical ventilation refers to the delivery of full or partial ventilatory support by a volume-cycled mechanical ventilator or by pressure support. It also can include the maintenance of positive airway pressure at the end of exhalation, ie, positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) [1]. (See "Physiologic and pathophysiologic consequences of positive pressure ventila...

GOAL OF THE STUDY To assess the benefit of pressure support ventilation during fibreoptic intubation performed under propofol anaesthesia in patients having an anticipated difficult intubation. PROCEDURES Thirty-two patients with ENT cancer, and having at least two criteria for anticipated difficult intubation were prospectively included. All patients received topical lidocaine 2% and propofo...

OBJECTIVES To measure airway pressures during closed system suctioning with the ventilator set to three differing modes of ventilation. METHODS Closed system suctioning was conducted in 16 patients following cardiac surgery. Suctioning was performed using a 14 French catheter with a vacuum level of -500 cmH2O through an 8.0 mm internal diameter endotracheal tube. The lungs were mechanically v...

To the Editor: I have read with interest the original article entitled, “Noninvasive ventilation for acute hypercapnic respiratory failure: intubation rate in an experienced unit.”1 In this paper, the authors prospectively evaluated 242 patients who received noninvasive ventilation (NIV) for acute hypercapnic respiratory failure in the presence of COPD or other causes not associated with COPD a...

To the Editor: I have read with interest the original article entitled, “Noninvasive ventilation for acute hypercapnic respiratory failure: intubation rate in an experienced unit.”1 In this paper, the authors prospectively evaluated 242 patients who received noninvasive ventilation (NIV) for acute hypercapnic respiratory failure in the presence of COPD or other causes not associated with COPD a...

Little is known about how pressure-support ventilation affects diaphragm performance because there is no direct measurement of diaphragm function in the clinical setting. An indicator of diaphragm performance or work is the product of diaphragm muscle shortening and intrathoracic pressure during inspiration. We studied the effect of pressure-support ventilation on diaphragm shortening, diaphrag...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To quantify the impact on peak airway pressure of pressure-controlled and volume-controlled ventilation during Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA) use. DESIGN Prospective, crossover clinical study. SETTING University-affiliated hospital. PATIENTS 32 ASA physical status I and II patients undergoing general anesthesia with the LMA. INTERVENTIONS Patients were ventilated for three ...