In 13 patients undergoing artificial ventilation, arterial blood gases, respiratory frequency and pulmonary ventilation were measured before, during and after a simultaneous and equal increase of the respiratory dead space and tidal volume. The patients were ventilated with a time cycled, constant volume respirator, using 50% 0,-50% Nz or atmospheric air. Prior to the addition of the dead space, the average arterial blood gases were: Pao, = 95.4 mmHg, Pacoz = 37.4 mmHg and pH = 7.442. Following ventilation for 20 min with an added dead space of 200 ml and a correspondingly increased tidal volume, Pao, rose to 113.7 mmHg (P< 0.001), whereas Paco, and pH remained essentially unchanged. Twenty minutes after removal of the extra dead space and restoration of the ventilation to the original level, Pao, was reduced to 107.1 mmHg, a level still clearly higher than the initial (P< 0.001). The observations demonstrate that simultaneous increase of dead space and tidal volume during artificial ventilation improves ventilation/perfusion disturbances and oxygenation of the arterial blood. This effect persists to a varying extent even after the dead space ventilation.