Differential lung ventilation with HFPPV.

A case of a 53 year old lady who developed a unilateral "white lung" of known etiology three weeks after injury is described. The clinical picture was suggestive of a pleural or extra-pleural hematoma, and she was operated upon twice. During the second thoracotomy it became evident that the lesion was in the lung parenchyma. The patient was treated with differential lung ventilation with application of a high continuous positive airway pressure, followed by high frequency positive pressure ventilation (HFPPV) of the diseased lung with low frequency continuous positive pressure ventilation of the other lung. This technique proved to be simple and successful.