What is positive-pressure ventilation?

Also known as: continuous positive airway pressure, CPAP.

Positive-pressure ventilation or CPAP is a safe and effective breathing treatment to keep the the child’s air tubes open during breathing. It’s delivered by a machine through a mask/artificial airway where the machine blows air/oxygen into the air passages (nose, throat) at a measured pressure.

Children typically wear the mask through the night (or continuously depending on the underlying diagnosis) as a treatment for sleep apnea, or other respiratory (lung) problems.

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Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM