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<\/p>\nAdvertorial<\/p>\n
05 October 2026<\/p>\n
Gr\u00e1inne Kelly CertVN(Hons), ECC PGCert, VAA, RVN, veterinary equipment consultant and Joel Huey, content editor discuss why inadequate ventilation\u00a0can have a significant impact on patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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For many veterinary professionals,\u00a0mechanical ventilation\u00a0<\/a>is still viewed as an advanced anaesthesia<\/a> technique reserved for referral hospitals, thoracic\u00a0procedures\u00a0or critically ill patients.\u00a0In reality, aiding\u00a0ventilation, however it\u2019s done, is relevant to\u00a0almost every\u00a0anaesthetised patient.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0managing a routine dental\u00a0<\/a>procedure, a lengthy soft tissue surgery, or a patient with respiratory compromise,\u00a0inadequate ventilation\u00a0can have a significant impact on anaesthetic stability, patient safety, and the quality of recovery.<\/p>\n The question is no longer whether ventilation has a place in general practice. The question is\u00a0more about why and when we use it.<\/p>\n Why ventilation matters<\/p>\n At its core, ventilation is about\u00a0maintaining\u00a0effective gas exchange.<\/p>\n Every cell in the body relies on oxygen to function. At the same time, carbon dioxide \u2013 a waste product of cellular metabolism \u2013 must be removed efficiently. When\u00a0spontaneous breathing\u00a0is compromised, oxygen delivery decreases, carbon dioxide\u00a0accumulates,\u00a0and physiological stability\u00a0deteriorates.<\/p>\n Equally, we can get physiological instability when excessive CO2 is removed (pH derangements, respiratory alkalosis).<\/p>\n Ventilation also plays\u00a0an important role\u00a0in\u00a0maintaining\u00a0acid-base balance. Excessive carbon dioxide leads to\u00a0respiratory acidosis,\u00a0where carbon dioxide builds up in the blood and causes pH to fall, making the blood more acidic. Conversely, excessive carbon dioxide removal can result in\u00a0respiratory alkalosis,\u00a0where pH rises and the blood becomes too alkaline. This can negatively affect cellular and organ function, cardiovascular\u00a0stability, and recovery.<\/p>\n From an anaesthetic perspective, ventilation is equally important because inhalational agents rely on adequate\u00a0breathing\u00a0for uptake and elimination.<\/p>\n Veterinary equipment consultant\u00a0Gr\u00e1inne Kelly said: \u201cWhen we\u2019re using\u00a0an\u00a0inhalational agent, it\u2019s actually really important that our patients\u00a0are breathing\u00a0adequately\u00a0so that they can\u00a0inhale\u00a0enough\u00a0agent to maintain\u00a0the right\u00a0anaesthetic depth.\u201d<\/p>\n A patient\u00a0who\u00a0is not\u00a0breathing\u00a0effectively may struggle to\u00a0maintain\u00a0a stable plane of anaesthesia, creating a cycle of physiological instability that can be difficult to manage.<\/p>\n Anaesthesia makes hypoventilation more likely<\/p>\n One of the strongest arguments\u00a0for mechanical\u00a0ventilation is that anaesthesia itself predisposes patients to respiratory compromise.<\/p>\n Many of the drugs used every day in veterinary practice reduce respiratory drive.\u00a0Induction agents\u00a0can often cause hypoventilation and apnoea, making elevated carbon dioxide\u00a0levels\u00a0(hypercapnia) one of the most common complications\u00a0encountered\u00a0during anaesthesia.<\/p>\n In other words, most anaesthetised patients\u00a0begin\u00a0the procedure with multiple factors working against normal\u00a0spontaneous breathing and effective removal of carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n This is why capnography<\/a> has become such a valuable monitoring tool. End-tidal CO2 provides a real-time\u00a0indication\u00a0of ventilatory status and often highlights a problem long before abnormalities appear on pulse\u00a0oximetry.<\/p>\n Why end-tidal CO2 matters<\/p>\n If hypoventilation is so common under anaesthesia, the next question becomes: how do we know when a patient needs\u00a0the support of a ventilator<\/a>?<\/p>\n This is where capnography and end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) monitoring become invaluable.<\/p>\n Historically, many clinicians relied heavily on pulse oximetry to assess respiratory function. While SpO2 monitoring\u00a0remains\u00a0important, it is a\u00a0relatively poor\u00a0indicator of ventilation. A patient can be\u00a0hypoventilating\u00a0and\u00a0retaining\u00a0significant amounts of carbon dioxide while still\u00a0maintaining\u00a0a normal oxygen saturation, particularly when receiving supplemental oxygen throughout\u00a0anaesthesia.<\/p>\n End-tidal CO2 provides a much earlier and more sensitive\u00a0indication\u00a0of how effectively a patient is\u00a0breathing. By measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide in exhaled gas at the end of each breath, capnography allows clinicians to detect changes in respiratory function in real time.<\/p>\n When many veterinary professionals think of mechanical ventilation, they often associate it with referral procedures such as thoracotomies or patients receiving neuromuscular blocking agents. In reality, the number of patients that may benefit from respiratory support is much broader.<\/p>\n Patients undergoing longer procedures, those with respiratory disease, laparoscopic cases, neurological patients where carbon dioxide control is important, and any patient showing signs of hypo or hyperventilation during anaesthesia can all benefit from ventilatory support.<\/p>\n Importantly, these are not exclusively referral-level cases. A lengthy dental procedure in first-opinion practice may benefit from ventilation just as much as a specialist surgical case, particularly where maintaining consistent ventilation and effective gas exchange becomes increasingly challenging over time.<\/p>\n Recovery is often overlooked, yet up to 60% of anaesthetic-related patient deaths occur during the postoperative period. In the full article, we explore how ventilatory support can influence recovery quality, why confidence remains one of the biggest barriers to adoption, and how modern ventilators are changing the conversation in first-opinion practice. Continue reading here\u2026 <\/a><\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to explore these topics further, join us at London Vet Show for one of our workshops or clinical talks, or stop by the stand to speak with the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Advertorial 05 October 2026 Gr\u00e1inne Kelly CertVN(Hons), ECC PGCert, VAA, RVN, veterinary equipment consultant and Joel Huey, content…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-621852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Grainne-Highland-referrals79.webp\")
An example of a patient being mechanically ventilated on VCV mode with the Veta 5. The purple colour reflects the spontaneous breath taken by the patient and supported by the ventilator; the orange colour reflects the mandatory breaths delivered entirely by the ventilator. Note that traditional VCV modes would not necessarily support spontaneous ventilation if it occurred. The Veta monitors for spontaneous ventilation in all modes and will aid or augment a spontaneous breath from the patient rather than suppress it. This feature helps prevent the traditional issue of the patient fighting or \u201cbucking\u201d the ventilator. However, for those who prefer the full control of traditional VCV, this feature can be turned off to allow user specifications as required.
\nWhich patients benefit from ventilation?<\/p>\n