Patient ventilator, method of ventilating an airway of a patient, and controller therefor

A ventilator to ventilate an airway of a patient, the ventilator comprising:

• a conduit having an inlet and an outlet, said outlet being configured to be connected to said airway;
• a gas delivery element in fluid communication with said inlet of said conduit, said gas delivery element configured to deliver air in a sequence of ventilation cycles, each ventilation cycle being defined by a corresponding tidal volume to be delivered to said airway via said conduit, each tidal volume corresponding to a difference between a start volume and an end volume of said gas delivery element for that ventilation cycle;
• a pressure sensor configured to monitor pressure within said conduit;
• a controller communicatively coupled to said gas delivery element and said pressure sensor, said controller having a processor and a non-transitory memory having stored thereon instructions that when executed by said processor perform the step of reducing said tidal volume between a first ventilation cycle and a successive second ventilation cycle contingent upon said pressure exceeding a pressure threshold in said first ventilation cycle.