What is a ventilator?

A ventilator is a machine which assists patients with breathing. There are two general types of ventilators: non-invasive and invasive. 

Non-invasive ventilators are also known as BiPAP or CPAP. They are used in patients who are awake to help take the work load off of breathing. It is similar to sticking your head out of a moving car's window and breathing: the positive pressure that you experience helps reduce the work load of your rib cage and diaphragm to move air in and out of your chest. 

Invasive ventilators, or simply ventilators, require that a tube is inserted into the airway. In the acute setting, this is most commonly in the form of an endotracheal tube, which enters the mouth (or nose) and passes beneath the vocal cords.

In the long term setting, a tracheostomy tube may be used.This tube enters the windpipe through the skin beneath the voice box. Patients with an endotracheal tube are often sedated to ease the discomfort of having a tube passing through the back of your throat. 

A ventilator is a machine that helps a person breathe or breathes for the person, controlling and monitoring the amounts of air and oxygen flowing into the person's lungs. Ventilators may be used for people with serious breathing conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Doctors typically attach a ventilator to a tube they have inserted into the person's windpipe (trachea) through the person's mouth or nose. If the person needs the ventilator for a long period of time, the surgeon may make an opening directly in the trachea (tracheostomy) and place the tube through this opening.