Patent ID: 6920875

Claim:
A method of adjusting a volume of a fluid supplied to a patient, the method comprising the steps of: (a) supplying a plurality of volumes of fluid to a patient during a like plurality of inspiratory phases of a respiratory cycle of such a patient, each volume of fluid being supplied at an inspiratory positive airway pressure during a corresponding inspiratory phase; (b) determining, for each inspiratory phase, a tidal volume of fluid received by such a patient; (c) determining an average tidal volume of fluid received by such a patient from the volumes of fluid received by such a patient during the plurality of inspiratory phases, wherein the average tidal volume is determined irrespective of a period of time during which the plurality of inspiratory phases occur; (d) comparing the average tidal volume to a predetermined target tidal volume; (e) adjusting the inspiratory positive airway pressure based on the comparison; (f) comparing a current inspiratory positive airway pressure to a maximum inspiratory positive airway pressure and a minimum inspiratory positive airway pressure; and (g) preventing adjusting of the inspiratory positive airway pressure in step (e) if one of (1) the current inspiratory positive airway pressure is greater than the maximum inspiratory positive airway pressure and (2) the current inspiratory positive airway pressure is less than the minimum inspiratory positive airway pressure.