Low Tidal Volumes for Everyone?

Since the first description of mechanical ventilation, our understanding of the positive and negative effects of this form of life support has continued to evolve. To maintain “normal” aeration of the lungs and “normal” blood gas measurements, patients often require much higher airway pressures and tidal volumes than would be expected in a healthy, spontaneously breathing adult. In the early days of mechanical ventilation, the goal was to...