[If mechanical ventilation comes to its limits: extracorporeal lung assist].

Extracorporeal lung assist can be performed pumpless by using the arterio-venous driving pressure or pumpdriven in a veno-venous mode. Oxygenation is maintained via the native lungs and depends mainly on mean airway pressure during mechanical ventilation.Extracorporeal lung assist can be part of a multimodal treatment concept in patients with acute lung injury. It aims at a further reduction of the applied tidal volume and peak pressures in order to reduce the intensity of the pulmonary and systemic inflammatory response which is the main factor for the development of multi-organ failure in this group of patients. Eventually patients with acute exacerbation of a chronic pulmonary disease might also benefit from extracorporeal ventilation. © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York.