Respiratory failure is a complex disease process whereby the underlying
disease and therapeutic measures interact. This book contains an
extensive bibliographic review, focusing on preventive and therapeutic
studies, that was methodologically standardized, with authors assessing
and classifying studies according to statutes of evidence-based
medicine. It considers the epidemiology and outcome of mechanical
ventilation; addresses ventilator modes and utility of pulmonary
mechanics monitoring for treatment; analyzes physiologic effect and
patient-outcomes of pulmonary recruitment and lung protective
ventilation procedures; describes complications that can be present in
these patients such as ventilator-associated pneumonia and useful
methods to prevent respiratory infections; covers the impact of
bronchodilators, corticosteroids, and antibiotics in acute exacerbation
of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; discusses how, when, and in
whom to do tracheostomy; and evaluates the use of sedation and
neuromuscular blockade as well as current clinical trials in acute lung
injury.