The failing ventilatory pump

This review will focus on situations resulting from a compromised ventilatory pump due to low driving force (weakness) of the respiratory system.

Abstract

Originally (Homer) meaning breastplate, curiass, corslet and eventually armour.With Hippocrates, "thorax" signified the area covered by the breast plate, or the entire trunk.In Plato's time, the 'thorax' delimited the walls of the cavity extending from the neck to the genitalia, and was separated by the midrift.Progressively, the region encompassed by the thorax has been reduced to the breast, or the chest.