Edited by Dr John J. Marini
This series of articles in Critical Care has not been sponsored. All articles have undergone the journal’s standard peer review process overseen by the Series Editor, with final decisions made by the Editor in Chief. The Series Editor and Editor in Chief declare no competing interests.
Respiratory failure from severe asthma is a potentially reversible, life-threatening condition. Poor outcome in this setting is frequently a result of the development of gas-trapping. This condition can arise ...
Mechanical ventilation is indispensable for the survival of patients with acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, excessive tidal volumes and inadequate lung recruitment may contrib...
Pulmonary disease changes the physiology of the lungs, which manifests as changes in respiratory mechanics. Therefore, measurement of respiratory mechanics allows a clinician to monitor closely the course of p...
As in the adult with acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, the use of lung-protective ventilation has improved outcomes for neonatal lung diseases. Animal models of neonatal respiratory di...
This brief review analyses the progress of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) over the last decade. NIV has gained the dignity of first line intervention for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary dise...
In patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the lung comprises areas of aeration and areas of alveolar collapse, the latter producing intrapulmonary shunt and hypoxemia. The currently suggeste...
Current protective lung ventilation strategies commonly involve hypercapnia. This approach has resulted in an increase in the clinical acceptability of elevated carbon dioxide tension, with hypoventilation and...
This review focuses on mechanical ventilation strategies that allow unsupported spontaneous breathing activity in any phase of the ventilatory cycle. By allowing patients with the acute respiratory distress sy...