Proportional assist ventilation

Acute respiratory failure due to derangement of mechanical properties of re spiratory system and/or to neuromuscular weakness has been defined as "poor neuroventilatory coupling." Proportional assist ventilation (PAV) is an in novative mode of partial ventilatory support designed to "amplify" patient inspiratory effort and thus to restore a normal "neuroventilatory coupling. " Potential advantages of PAV in terms of more physiologic patient-ventilat or interactions have been evaluated by several studies. We review the liter ature to elucidate the state of the art of the clinical implementation of P AV.