Continuous airway pressure with oxygen minimizes the metabolic lesion of ‘pump lung’

Water distribution and energy status of the lung were measured in ten rabbits at two hours of hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with left heart venting and incision of the parietal pleurae. During CPB, half the animals had their airways open to room air at ambient atmospheric pressure (ZEEP), and the remainder had their lungs inflated (CPAP) at a pressure of 5 cms H2O with the oxygen-enriched (70–75 per cent) gas mixture exiting from the …