Gas transport during high-frequency ventilation

High-frequency ventilation (HFV) is a mechanical ventilation technique routinely used in neonatal intensive care units. The delicateness of the newborn lung tissues makes the process of ventilation challenging as they can be severely damaged if the pressure gets too high. To manage this, HFV provides very fast yet shallow breaths to avoid over-stretching delicate lung tissues. Unlike normal breathing, shallow breaths given in HFV are not sufficient to empty and replenish the lungs completely with oxygenated air. There are some subtle mechanisms purported to play a role in HFV and two potential mechanisms are comprehensively investigated in this thesis.