Airway pressure release ventilation: an alternative mode of mechanical ventilation in acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) results in collapse of alveoli and therefore poor oxygenation. In this article, we review airway pressure release ventilation (APRV), a mode of mechanical ventilation that may be useful when, owing to ARDS, areas of the lungs are collapsed and need to be reinflated ("recruited"), avoiding cyclic alveolar collapse and reopening.