History of Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation prior to 1972. Part one. Special Article

Medical history is often overlooked as advances keep moving forward. Seldom is it that advances in medicine are truly new, unique ideas, but rather built on ideas that have been considered before. Even our latest developments will become history or forgotten as science and medicine advance. This history of intermittent mandatory ventilation (IMV) is a two-part article in which the first part attempts to show that the concepts and apparatus that involve the now common mode of ventilation have been considered and described for nearly 200 years, if not earlier. This older history is not brought forward to diminish what has been done in the last 50 years, but to enhance awareness of how ideas and even mechanical ventilators change over time. The second part will describe how those ideas and mechanics changed into what we now call IMV in its many forms. Keywords: Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation, IMV, History of mechanical ventilation