Postoperative arterial oxygen tension after peroperative PEEP-ventilation.

Forty otherwise healthy patients (29 women and 11 men), undergoing elective cholecystectomy, were randomly allocated to be ventilated during the operation either with a positive end-expiratory pressure of 1 kPa (10 cmH2O) (PEEP group) or with intermittent positive pressure ventilation without PEEP (control group). During the operation the mean arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) in the PEEP group increased from 14.6 to 16.