Atelectotrauma, atelectrauma, cyclic atelectasis or repeated alveolar collapse and expansion (RACE) are medical terms for the damage caused to the lung by

mechanical ventilation Mechanical ventilation, assisted ventilation or intermittent mandatory ventilation (IMV), is the medical term for using a machine called a ventilator to fully or partially provide artificial ventilation. Mechanical ventilation helps move a ...

under certain conditions. When parts of the lung

collapse Collapse or its variants may refer to: Concepts * Collapse (structural) * Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept * Collapsing manifold * Collapse, the action of collapsing or telescoping objects * Collapsing user interface elements ** ...

at the end of expiration, due to a combination of a diseased lung state and a low

functional residual capacity Functional residual capacity (FRC) is the volume of air present in the lungs at the end of passive expiration. At FRC, the opposing elastic recoil forces of the lungs and chest wall are in equilibrium and there is no exertion by the diaphragm ...

, then reopen again on inspiration, this repeated collapsing and reopening causes

shear stress Shear stress, often denoted by (Greek: tau), is the component of stress coplanar with a material cross section. It arises from the shear force, the component of force vector parallel to the material cross section. ''Normal stress'', on the ...

which has a damaging effect on the

alveolus Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * Mam ...

.Shi C., Boehme S., Hartmann E. K., Markstaller K. Novel technologies to detect atelectotrauma in the injured lung. ''Exp Lung Res''. 2011 Feb;37(1):18-25.

/ref>Attar MA, Donn SM. Mechanisms of ventilator-induced lung injury in premature infants. ''Semin Neonatol''. 2002 Oct;7(5):353-60.

/ref> Clinicians attempt to reduce atelectotrauma by ensuring adequate positive end-expiratory pressure, positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) to maintain the alveoli open in expiration. This is known as ''open lung ventilation''. High frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) with its use of 'super CPAP' is especially effective in preventing atelectotrauma since it maintains a very high mean airway pressure (MAP), equivalent to a very high PEEP. Atelectotrauma is one of several means by which mechanical ventilation may damage the lungs leading to

ventilator-associated lung injury Ventilator-associated lung injury (VALI) is an acute lung injury that develops during mechanical ventilation and is termed ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) if it can be proven that the mechanical ventilation caused the acute lung injury. In c ...

. The other means are

volutrauma Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between a gas space inside, or contact with, the body and the surrounding gas or liquid. The initial damage is usually due to over-stretching the tissues in tensio ...

barotrauma Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between a gas space inside, or contact with, the body and the surrounding gas or liquid. The initial damage is usually due to over-stretching the tissues in tens ...

rheotrauma Rheotrauma is a medical term for the harm caused to a patient's lungs by high gas flows as delivered by mechanical ventilation. Although mechanical ventilation may prevent death of a patient from the hypoxia or hypercarbia which may be caused by ...

and biotrauma. Attempts have been made to combine these factors in an all encompassing term:

mechanical power : ''For the physics concept, see .'' Mechanical power is a medical term which is a measure of the amount of energy imparted to a patient by a mechanical ventilator. While in many cases mechanical ventilation is a life-saving or life-preserving in ...

References

{{Mechanical ventilation Respiratory therapy Pulmonology Lung disorders Emergency medicine Intensive care medicine Trauma types Medical equipment