Liquid ventilation is a technique of mechanical ventilation in which the lungs are insufflated with an oxygenated perfluorochemical liquid rather than an oxygen-containing gas mixture. The use of perfluorochemicals, rather than nitrogen, as the inert carrier of oxygen and carbon dioxide offers a number of theoretical advantages for the treatment of acute lung injury, including:

      Reducing surface tension by maintaining a fluid interface with alveoli

       Opening of collapsed alveoli by hydraulic pressure with a lower risk of barotrauma

       Providing a reservoir in which oxygen and carbon dioxide can be exchanged with pulmonary capillary blood

       Functioning as a high-efficiency heat exchanger

Despite its theoretical advantages, efficacy studies have been disappointing and the optimal clinical use of LV has yet to be defined.