ABSTRACT
Trauma and critically ill patients routinely require respiratory care ranging from supplemental oxygen administration to lung separation and unilateral or independent lung ventilation. Respiratory support encompasses a wide range of prophylactic, therapeutic, and diagnostic interventions, including airway mucus clearance, increasing lung volumes, improving oxygenation, and recruiting collateral airway units. Expectorants, mucolytics, mucokinetics, and modifiers of airway water transport may each have a role in the management of these patients. Anti-inflammatory agents, anticholinergics, and some macrolide antibiotics may prove to be mainstays in the care and treatment of certain cases.
