Final answer:
The ventilator mode combining mechanically assisted and spontaneous breaths is Synchronized Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation (SIMV). This mode allows the ventilator to be synchronized with the patient's spontaneous breathing, offering both mandatory breaths and support for spontaneous breaths.
Step-by-step explanation:
The ventilator mode that provides a combination of mechanically assisted breaths and spontaneous breaths is known as Synchronized Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation (SIMV). In SIMV mode, the ventilator delivers a set number of mandatory breaths synchronized with the patient's own effort. Between these mandatory breaths, the patient can breathe spontaneously, and the ventilator will support these breaths if needed. SIMV allows for patient-ventilator synchrony and can be used as a weaning mode as the patient recovers and their spontaneous breathing effort improves. It's important to understand different modes of ventilation as they relate to concepts like pulmonary ventilation, which is the movement of air into and out of the lungs driven by atmospheric pressure (Patm), the air pressure within the alveoli (Palv), and the pressure within the pleural cavity (Pip).
In the context of other respiratory volumes and capacities, such as functional residual capacity (FRC), which is the sum of expiratory reserve volume (ERV) and residual volume (RV), and remains in the lungs after a tidal expiration, modes like SIMV can help manage how a patient's lungs are ventilated in clinical settings.