Convective mixing mechanisms in high frequency intermittent jet ventilation.

Abstract

A liquid flow visualization technique was used to identify the location of neutrally buoyant bead clouds injected into airway models during flows simulating high frequency intermittent jet ventilation (HFIJV) in neonatal lungs. The motions of these bead clouds show that the convective or bulk mixing that occurs during HFIJV is made up of two parts; a turbulent convective exchange with the atmosphere caused by the jet in the trachea and a streaming motion along the airways driven by an interaction between the jet and the expansion and contraction of the airways due to their compliance. These convective streaming motions combine with molecular diffusion to produce augmented diffusion which transports O2 and CO2 between the trachea and the peripheral alveoli. Optimizing HFIJV (as well as other forms of HFV) depends on maximizing these airway convective streaming flows which depend on many more lung and fluid mechanical parameters than are necessary to describe conventional mechanical ventilation.