Patent ID: 8408203

Claim:
A method of ventilating a patient, the method performed by a ventilator, the method comprising: placing a ventilator in a mode capable of delivering respiratory gas based on at least two fixed parameters and at least one variable parameter, the fixed parameters including tidal volume and peak airway pressure and the variable parameter including positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP); identifying a first level for the PEEP; configuring the ventilator to deliver the respiratory gas at the peak airway pressure and the first level of PEEP to achieve the fixed tidal volume; monitoring respiratory gas flow over time to measure tidal volume; setting a second level for the PEEP based on the measured tidal volume; automatically adjusting through the ventilator, the PEEP to the second level, relative to the fixed peak airway pressure to keep the measured tidal volume at the fixed tidal volume; and repeating the steps of configuring, monitoring, setting and automatically adjusting to achieve the ventilation.