BACKGROUND: Respiratory failure secondary to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) remains a major complication after cardiac surgery. The authors previously found that the increase in intrapulmonary shunt was well correlated with the amount of atelectasis. They tested the hypothesis that post-CPB atelectasis can be prevented by a vital capacity maneuver (VCM) performed before termination of the bypass. METHODS: Eighteen pigs received standard hypothermic CPB (no ventilation during bypass). The VCM was performed in two groups and consisted of inflating the lungs during 15 s to 40 cmH2O at the end of the bypass. In one group, the inspired oxygen fraction (FIO2) was then increased to 1.0. In the second group, the FIO2 was left at 0.4. In the third group, no VCM was performed (control group). Ventilation-perfusion distribution was measured with the inert gas technique and atelectasis by computed tomographic scanning. RESULTS: Intrapulmonary shunt increased after bypass in the control group (from 4.9 +/- 4% to 20.8 +/- 11.7%; P < 0.05) and was also increased in the vital capacity group ventilated with 100% oxygen (from 2.2 +/- 1.3% to 6.9 +/- 2.9%; P < 0.01) but was unaffected in the vital capacity group ventilated with 40% oxygen. The control pigs showed extensive atelectasis (21.3 +/- 15.8% of total lung area), which was significantly larger (P < 0.01) than the proportion of atelectasis found in the two vital capacity groups (5.7 +/- 5.7% for the vital capacity group ventilated with 100% oxygen and 2.3 +/- 2.1% for the vital capacity group ventilated with 40% oxygen. CONCLUSION: In this pig model, postcardiopulmonary bypass atelectasis was effectively prevented by a VCM.