airway pressure release ventilation

airway pressure release ventilation

mechanical ventilation in which patients being treated with continuous positive airway pressure have intermittent decreases rather than increases in airway pressure and volume.

air·way pres·sure re·lease ven·ti·la·tion

(APRV) (ār'wā presh'ŭr rĕ-lēs' ven'ti-lā'shŭn)

A mode of mechanical ventilation.

airway pressure release ventilation

A type of mechanical ventilation in which patients breathe spontaneously at any phase of the ventilator's duty cycle at high continuous positive airway pressures (CPAP). Periodically, the level of CPAP is lowered to eliminate waste gases from the circuit.

See also: ventilation