Dorsal recruitment with flow-controlled expiration (FLEX): an experimental study in mechanically ventilated lung-healthy and lung-injured pigs

摘要

BackgroundConcepts for optimizing mechanical ventilation focus mainly on modifying the inspiratory phase. We propose flow-controlled expiration (FLEX) as an additional means for lung protective ventilation and hypothesize that it is capable of recruiting dependent areas of the lungs. This study investigates potential recruiting effects of FLEX using models of mechanically ventilated pigs before and after induction of lung injury with oleic acid.