Mechanical Ventilation – A Friend in Need?

The development of modern medicine has imposed a new approach both in anaesthesiology and in intensive care. This is the reason why, in the last decades, more and more devices and life-support techniques were improved in order to achieve the highest medical outcomes.
Key features of the critically ill patient are severe respiratory, cardiovascular or neurological derangements, often in combination, reflected in abnormal physiological observations. All these changes converge towards the establishment of pulmonary or extrapulmonary respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilatory support. In the current conception, mechanical ventilation does not represent a curative method for respiratory pathology, however, it represents a bridge therapy ensuring the rest and preservation of respiratory muscles, improves gas exchange and assists in maintaining a normal pH until the recovery of the patient [1].
Despite decades of research, there are limited therapeutic options directed towards the underlying pathological processes and supportive care with mechanical ventilation remaining the cornerstone of patient management. [More]