PERITONEAL VENTILATION - AN ANIMAL-MODEL OF EXTRAPULMONARY VENTILATION IN EXPERIMENTAL ADULT-RESPIRATORY-DISTRESS-SYNDROME

Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a critical medical probl em in which severe arterial hypoxemia is often poorly responsive to co nventional modes of mechanical ventilation. We studied the efficiency of mechanical ventilation of the peritoneal cavity in rabbits with exp erimental ARDS caused by lung lavage. The study shows that peritoneal ventilation is significantly effective in oxygenation of hypoxemic ani mals with ARDS and is also effective for carbon dioxide elimination. P eritoneal ventilation may be considered as an investigational method f or extrapulmonary oxygenation in severe intractable hypoxemia caused b y ARDS.