Elastic pressure-volume curves in acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The principal features of elastic pressure-volume curves of lungs or the respiratory system (P(el)/V curves) recorded during reexpansion of collapsed lungs and subsequent deflation have been known since the 1950s. In acute respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome such curves have recently attracted increasing interest because new knowledge can be acquired from them, and because such curves may be useful as guidelines in setting the ventilator so as to avoid ventilator-induced lung injury. DISCUSSION: This article reviews recording methods, underlying physiology and utility of P(el)/V curves in research and clinical work.