Lung recruitment and lung volume maintenance: a strategy for improving oxygenation and preventing lung injury during both conventional mechanical ventilation and high-frequency oscillation

To determine whether using a small tidal volume (5 ml/kg) ventilation following sustained inflation with positive endexpiratory pressure (PEEP) set above the critical closing pressure (CCP) allows oxygenation equally well and induces as little lung damage as high-frequency oscillation following sustained inflation with a continuous distending pressure (CDP) slightly above the CCP of the lung