Directed manual recruitment of collapsed lung in intubated and nonintubated patients.

Four patients with collapsed lung are presented that demonstrate the utility of the directed manual recruitment technique (DMRT) in a range of clinical situations presented by weaning difficulties, recurrent acute atelectasis, and acute respiratory failure in the nonintubated patient. DMRT is an easily applied noninvasive method of lung expansion in the treatment of patients with segmental and lobar collapse and is safe when carried out with appropriate precautions.