Alternative modes of mechanical ventilation: a review for the hospitalist.

Newer ventilators can be set to modes other than the pressure-control and volume-control modes of older machines. In this paper, the authors review several of these alternative modes (adaptive pressure control, adaptive support ventilation, proportional assist ventilation, airway pressure-release ventilation, biphasic positive airway pressure, and high-frequency oscillatory ventilation), explaining how they work and contrasting their theoretical benefits and the actual evidence of benefit.