Topic Progress:

To inflate the lung-ventilator unit pressure is required to both overcome the resistance in the tube that opposes gas flow and to distend the balloon where:

  1. Pressure required to overcome the resistance in the tube is determined by the flow down the tube and the resistance to flow

                           PRES = Flow x Resistance

  1. Pressure required to distend the balloon (alveolar inflation pressure) is determined by the volume of gas passing into the balloon and the compliance of the balloon

                           PELAST = Volume/Compliance

  1. Therefore, the total pressure required to inflate the balloon is:

                           PTOT = PRES + PELAST

                                      = (Flow x Resistance) + (Volume/Compliance)

PAWis the pressure measured by the ventilator and is due to the sum of all pressures within the respiratory unit

          Includes both the pressure required to inflate the alveoli and the baseline pressure in the balloon

          Baseline pressure = PEEP

          PAW = PRES + PELAST + PEEP

          PAW = (Flow x Resistance) + (Volume/Compliance) + PEEP

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