Mechanical ventilation: Essential aspects and clinical application

Abstract

Mechanical ventilation (MV) is an extracorporeal respiratory assistance therapy that allows ventilation and gas exchange in a patient who cannot do so physiologically due to pulmonary or extrapulmonary pathologies that affect ventilatory mechanics, as well as surgical interventions that require deep sedation. Currently, MV is a pillar of critical patient care, and it is essential for the physician to understand and apply its basic concepts. Therefore, this review aims to encompass the general physical and physiological aspects of MV, as well as its different modalities, applications, and therapeutic indications. The mechanical ventilator is the device responsible for providing oxygen to the patient according to the conditions set by the operator. The ventilatory mode is the determined pattern in which the patient and ventilator interact. It is composed of a control variable, which can be pressure or volume, and a ventilatory sequence, which refers to whether the breaths are spontaneous, mandatory, or a combination of these two. MV can be delivered to the patient using a variety of devices, whether advanced airway devices such as endotracheal tubes or noninvasive interfaces such as face masks.