Respiratory system and artificial ventilation are key topics when considering the main aspects of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine: assisted ventilation techniques are essential to preserve the patient's life, but just as any other treatments they can be also extremely pernicious.

Scientific research and clinical evidences are equally fundamental in investigating the best methods to provide effective support and increase positive outcomes. It is obviously desirable that this knowledge and know-how are widely shared among scientists and practitioners.

With this purpose, the book includes contributions by an international panel of authors and gathers their varied and valuable expertise up to illustrate principles, study results and case experiences on respiratory physiopathology, respiratory mechanics, respiratory functions monitoring, artificial ventilation and diagnostic radiology in respiratory dysfunction failure.

We trust it can represent a precious reference for professionals in their ongoing self-improvement process to increase skilfulness. Furthermore, we hope that this book can serve as a useful learning tool for medical students and can contribute to the education of future anaesthesiologists and intensivists.

From the reviews:

"This book reviews respiratory performance, selected mechanical ventilation modes, and treatment strategies. ? Fellows, other senior trainees, and practitioners managing critically ill patients with respiratory concerns are an appropriate audience for this work which comes from a multidisciplinary group of authors in Western Europe and a small number of presenters from the United States. ? Contemporary thinking is well represented in this collection of reviews on pulmonary physiology and selected clinical topics." (David J. Dries, MD, Doody's Review Service, March, 2008)