ABSTRACT
The term ‘‘ventilator-induced lung injury’’ (VILI) refers to those aspects of
acute respiratory failure that can be attributed to mechanical ventilatory support or management. In some instances, the use of positive airway pres-
sure itself (rather than ‘‘negative’’ airway pressure, as with normal breath-
ing) may be enough to cause or exacerbate injury to lung tissue, for
instance in the presence of an inflammatory response to the primary cause
of respiratory failure. Alternatively, specific types of ventilator management
(or ‘‘mismanagement’’) may confer additional lung injury. Regardless, the
‘‘manifestations’’ of VILI are identical to any other cause of acute lung
injury (ALI) (1). It is for this reason that in the clinical setting, VILI is often referred to as ventilator-associated lung injury.
