Monitoring of the mechanical behaviour of the respiratory system during controlled mechanical ventilation

Abstract

Most modern mechanical ventilators offer a multitude of graphics and numerics allowing to monitor respiratory mechanics during ongoing mechanical ventilation. The information provided by these integrated respiration monitors is first to provide the information necessary to optimise ventilator settings in an individual patient and second to document disease evolution over time or in response to therapeutic interventions. Furthermore, measuring respiratory mechanics during ventilation can allow developing automatic adaptation algorithms of ventilator settings. However, to do this either by manual or by automatic ventilator settings adjustment, a thorough understanding not only of basic respira..