What every paediatrician needs to know about mechanical ventilation

Abstract

Invasive mechanical ventilation (MV) is one of the most practiced interventions in the intensive care unit (ICU) and is unmistakably lifesaving for children with acute respiratory failure (ARF). However, if delivered inappropriately (i.e. ignoring the respiratory system mechanics and not targeted to the need of the individual patient at a specific time point in the disease trajectory), the side effects will outweigh the benefits. Decades of experimental and clinical investigations have resulted in a better understanding of three important detrimental effects of MV. These are ventilation-induced lung injury (VILI), patient self-inflicted lung injury (P-SILI), and ventilation-induced diaphragmatic injury (VIDD). VILI, P-SILI, and VIDD have in common that they occur when there is either too much or too little ventilatory assistance.Conclusion: The purpose of this review is to give the paediatrician an overview of the challenges to prevent these detrimental effects and titrate MV to the individual patient needs.