Distribution of Pulmonary Ventilation in Lateral Decubitus of Healthy Adults Under Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation Supply

In lateral decubitus, the largest percentage of pulmonary ventilation of non-sedated subjects is distributed mainly in the dependent lung. The aim It was to investigate via impedance tomography apparatus the distribution of pulmonary ventilation at a lateral position at different Continuous Positive Airway Pressure levels (0, 5, 10 cm Η2Ο) in healthy subjects. The volunteers were noninvasively ventilated in both lateral positions and supine positions at the beginning and end of the process. It is concluded that implementing Non-Invasive Ventilation in the lateral body position resulted in increased ventilation of the dependent lung. In contrast, the respective ventilation of the non-dependent lung was further decreased.