Liquid ventilation

Liquid ventilation (LV) is an exciting, up-and-coming technique presently under investigation for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and infantile respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS). Two different methods of LV, total liquid ventilation (TLV) and partial liquid ventilation (PLV), are described in this article using a liquid called perflubon. This type of therapy has been shown to positively affect the physiologic derangements seen in ARDS and IRDS cases, and may have additional benefits, including anti-inflammatory properties and synergistic characteristics with other known and experimental therapies.