Conventional mechanical ventilation

The provision of mechanical ventilation for the support of infants and children with respiratory failure or insufficiency is one of the most common techniques that are performed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Despite its widespread application in the PICUs of the 21st century, before the 1930s, respiratory failure was uniformly fatal due to the lack of equipment and techniques for airway management and ventilatory support. The operating rooms of the 1950s and 1960s provided the arena for the development of the manual skills and the refinement of the equipment needed for airway management, which subsequently led to the more widespread use of endotracheal intubation thereby ushering in the era of positive pressure ventilation. Although there seems to be an ever increasing complexity in the techniques of mechanical ventilation, its successful use in the PICU should be guided by the basic principles of gas exchange and the physiology of respiratory function. With an understanding of these key concepts and the use of basic concepts of mechanical ventilation, this technique can be successfully applied in both the PICU and the operating room. This article reviews the basic physiology of gas exchange, principles of pulmonary physiology, and the concepts of mechanical ventilation to provide an overview of the knowledge required for the provision of conventional mechanical ventilation in various clinical arenas.