A compilation of selected presentations given by critical care experts at the 2008 SCCM Summer Conference, Mechanical Ventilation: Trends in Adult and Pediatric Practice, provides thirteen articles on the key topics in mechanical ventilation. Articles include principles of mechanical ventilation, noninvasive ventilation for acute hypoxic respiratory failure, preventing ventilation-associated pneumonia, lung recruitment strategies, mechanical ventilation in neurologically ill patients, and weaning from mechanical ventilation.