Be confident of success in your FRCA Final exam

750 questions Our resource is mapped to the Final FRCA curriculum. Take advantage of detailed answer explanations and Key Learning Points covering every topic in the exam.

Revise with quality questions and detailed explanations

There are absolute and relative indications for one lung ventilation. Whilst in most cases the indications to improve surgical access are highly desirable, they are not considered absolute. Explanation There are absolute and relative indications for one-lung ventilation. In most cases the indications to improve surgical access are highly desirable, they are not considered absolute. Absolute indications include:

• Isolation of a healthy lung to prevent contamination or damage from a lung abscess or pulmonary haemorrhage.
• Control of the distribution of ventilation to prevent baro- or volutrauma of damaged lung tissue (bronchopleural fistula, major cyst or bulla, bronchial trauma.
• Facilitation of single lung lavage

Relative indications include the enabling of surgical access for thoracic aortic surgery, lung resection, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), oesophageal surgery and mediastinal mass resection.