Protective mechanical ventilation in brain dead organ donors

Mechanical ventilation is the procedure to assist or replace spontaneous breathing in all clinical conditions where the function of the lungs to remove carbon dioxide and supply oxygen is compromised. Originally developed to manage the respiratory consequences of anesthesia, the use of mechanical ventilation to manage patients with acute respiratory failure during the 1952 epidemic of poliomyelitis in Copenhagen decreased mortality from 80 to 40 %. Since then mechanical ventilation became a mainstay for patients with acute respiratory failure, including patients with severe brain injury and brain dead subjects who may become potential organ donors.