Mechanical ventilation is the fundamental technique for life support in the intensive care setting.
The greatest impetus for technological advancement followed the description of acute respiratory distress syndrome by Ashbaugh and colleagues in 1967. Initially, ventilator modalities and goals focused on normalizing pH and P aco 2 and on improving oxygenation. In the 1700s bellows ventilation was used to resuscitate people who came close to drowning in canals. Major progress in mechanical ventilation was made approximately 50 years ago at the time of a poliomyelisis epidemic. Partly because of the obtrusive nature of negative pressure ventilators, positive pressure ventilators were eventually refined for clinical applications as well.