Clinical Use of a Nomogram to Estimate Proper Ventilation during Artificial Respiration

WHEN a patient is unable to breathe by himself, the single most important responsibility of the physician is to provide adequate ventilation of the lungs. Artificial respiration during anesthesia may be required for several hours, and the treatment of respiratory paralysis in poliomyelitis may be necessary for much longer periods. Under these conditions the physician must consider any deviations from proper ventilatory levels in the light of their long-term effects.The first concern of the physician giving artificial respiration is to maintain oxygenation of the patient's arterial blood. Often, he does this by providing high concentrations of oxygen in the . . .