Revival of an Old Battle: Intermittent vs. Continuous Positive-Pressure Breathing

Abstract

For nearly 30 years the relative advantages of continuous pressure breathing (CPB) and of intermittent pressure breathing (IPB) have been the object of a controversy. The proponents of CPB had their first hour of glory during World War II. The development of new aircraft capable of reaching higher altitudes led to the use of CPB to gain altitude tolerance for the pilot by an increase in the overall pressure in the lung and therefore in the partial pressure of oxygen. For this purpose, there was no doubt that CPB was better than IPB because it is difficult to obtain so . . .