The hemodynamic effects of high-frequency jet ventilation (HFJV), synchronized with diastole, and intermittent positive-pressure ventilation (IPPV) were studied in 10 dogs with acute right-sided myocardial ischemia and elevated right ventricular pressure. Myocardial ischemia was produced by ligation of the proximal right coronary artery (RCA), then the right ventricular pressure was elevated to facilitate the ischemia by banding the main pulmonary artery. Before and 1, 2, 3, and 5 hr after the RCA ligation, cardiorespiratory variables for each ventilatory mode and creatine phosphokinase MB isoenzyme (CPK-MB) were measured. During HFJV compared with IPPV: there were significant increases in stroke index and left ventricular stroke work index at all ischemic periods, and decreases in peak and mean airway pressures and pulmonary vascular resistance at all ischemic periods, and in the product of systolic right ventricular pressure and heart rate at 2 hr, 3 hr, and 5 hr. The difference in mean airway pressure between IPPV and HFJV correlated significantly with those in cardiac index and stroke index (r = 0.575 and 0.779, respectively). CPK-MB was significantly greater at 3 hr and 5 hr than that before RCA ligation. These findings suggest that HFJV synchronized with diastole offers hemodynamic advantages over IPPV to ischemic right ventricle with constricted pulmonary artery, mainly due to lowering the mean airway pressure.