Differential mechanical ventilation in respiratory failure due to severe unilateral lung disease.

Severe unilateral lung disease that produces respiratory failure may necessitate mechanical ventilatory support to sustain gas exchange. This article describes the successful use of differential lung ventilation in the management of one patient with diffuse unilateral pneumonia and another with a postoperative bronchopleural fistula after standard methods of mechanical ventilation failed to provide adequate gas exchange for these patients.