Mechanical Ventilation: Understanding the Equation of Motion and COVID-19 Implications, Exams of Medical Sciences

Mechanical Ventilation

Plan of action for mechanical ventilation - correct answer Plan is not to cure the patient but to buy

time for the medical team to implement proper treatment options to resolve patients underlying

condition and provide patient time to heal until such a time that they're able to breathe on their

own without the mechanical ventilator.

Mechanical Ventilation - correct answer the need for mechanical ventilation is based on the

equation of motion example - correct answer an increase in resistance, such as asthma

exacerbation, would require increased work to over this resistance.

a condition such as intra-abdominal hypertension and ARDS would result in increased work

required to overcome the stiffness of the chest wall or the lung which is a component of the

respiratory system elastance.

Mechanical Ventilation continued - correct answer in some cases, increased work can be due to gas

exchange issues that are not directly related to resistance and elastance.

covid-19 patients that require mechanical ventilation are presenting profound hypoxemia

equation of motion continued - correct answer spontaneous breathing patients generate negative

pressure to do this work.

and the first widely used type of mechanical ventilation to assist or take over this work was based

on the concept of negative pressure - the iron lung.

Modern mechanical ventilation - correct answer modern mechanical ventilation no longer uses

negative pressure, instead it generates positive pressure to overcome this work. non-invasive