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We hypothesized that the ventilator-related causes of lung injury may be unified in a single variable: the mechanical power. We assessed whether the mechanical power measured by the pressure–volume loops can be computed from its components: tidal volume (TV)/driving pressure (∆P _aw), flow, positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP), and respiratory rate (RR). If so, the relative contributions of each variable to the mechanical power can be estimated.

We computed the mechanical power by multiplying each component of the equation of motion by the variation of volume and RR: $${\text{Power}}_{\text{rs}} = {\text{RR}} \cdot \left\{ {\Delta V^{2} \cdot \left[ {\frac{1}{2} \cdot {\text{EL}}_{\text{rs}} + {\text{RR}} \cdot \frac{{\left( {1 + I:E} \right)}}{60 \cdot I:E} \cdot R_{\text{aw}} } \right] + \Delta V \cdot {\text{PEEP}}} \right\},$$where ∆ …