Respiratory and Ventilatory Assessment

Respiratory mechanics refers to the expression of lung function through measures of pressure and flow. From these measurements, a variety of derived indexes can be determined, such as volume, compliance, resistance, and work of breathing. Ventilation monitoring plays an important role in the current management of patients with acute respiratory failure, but sometimes there’s a lack of definitions regarding which “signals” and “derived variables” should be prioritized, as well as specifications about the timing and modes of application. New techniques of respiratory monitoring have recently been made available for clinical use, but their use and arrangement are not always well defined. We summarize the current modes of respiratory monitoring and their potential practical applications during invasive and noninvasive ventilation and during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in patients affected by severe ARDS, needing rescue therapies to maintain blood oxygenation adequate