Figure 2
From: The role of spontaneous effort during mechanical ventilation: normal lung versus injured lung
Transition phase from spontaneous breathing to muscle paralysis in a rabbit. A lung-injured animal was ventilated with assisted pressure control mode. We recorded continuously waveforms of transpulmonary pressure, airway pressure, flow, and esophageal pressure without any change in ventilatory settings, after injection of neuromuscular blocking agent. When spontaneous breathing during mechanical ventilation is diminished, the negative swing in esophageal pressure is decreasing. As a result, inspiratory transpulmonary pressure decreases. Note that inspiratory transpulmonary pressure linearly correlates with the intensity of spontaneous breathing effort.