Ventilation

Respiration is used when spontaneous breathing fails (apnea) or becomes insufficient. This can occur in

• narcosis,
• in poisoning,
• circulatory arrest,
• neurological disease or head injury,
• due to spinal cord lesions or the effects of drugs.
• A number of pulmonary diseases or thoracic injuries, as well as cardiac disease, shock, and sepsis, may also require ventilation.
• Depending on the clinical situation, ventilation may continue for a few minutes or for months.
• While return to spontaneous breathing is rarely a problem during routine anesthesia, weaning (so-called weaning) of an ICU patient after prolonged ventilation is a difficult process that can take days or weeks.
• When the respiratory muscles are paralyzed
• Some patients with severe brain damage, spinal cord injury or neurological disease do not regain the ability to breathe spontaneously and therefore require continuous ventilation (home mechanical ventilation).