• P Kraincuk, A Kepka, G Ihra, C Schabernig, and A Aloy.
• Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care, University of Vienna, Austria. alexander.aloy@univie.ac.at
• Crit Care. 1999 Jan 1; 3 (4): 101110101-110.

BackgroundAdequate humidification in long-term jet ventilation is a critical aspect in terms of clinical safety. AIM: To assess a prototype of an electronic jet-ventilator and its humidification system. MethodsForty patients with respiratory insufficiency were randomly allocated to one of four groups. The criterion for inclusion in this study was respiratory insufficiency exhibiting a Murray score above 2. The four groups of patients were ventilated with three different respirators and four different humidification systems. Patients in groups A and B received superimposed high-frequency jet ventilation (SHFJV) by an electronic jet-ventilator either with (group A) or without (group B) an additional humidification system. Patients in group C received high-frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) by a pneumatic high-frequency respirator, using a hot water humidifier for warming and moistening the inspiration gas. Patients in group D received conventional mechanical ventilation using a standard intensive care unit respirator with a standard humidification system. SHFJV and HFPV were used for a period of 100 h (4days). ResultsA significantly low inspiration gas temperature was noted in patients in group B, initially (27.2 +/- 2.5 degrees C) and after 2 days (28.0 +/- 1.6 degrees C) (P < 0.05). The percentage of relative humidity of the inspiration gas in patients in group B was also initially significantly low (69.8 +/- 4.1%; P < 0.05) but rose to an average of 98 +/- 2.8% after 2 h. The average percentage across all four groups amounted to 98 +/- 0.4% after 2 h. Inflammation of the tracheal mucosa was found in patients in group B and the mucosal injury score (MIS) was significantly higher than in all the other groups. Patients in groups A, C and D showed no severe evidence of airway damage, exhibiting adequate values of relative humidity and temperature of the inspired gas. ConclusionThe problems of humidification associated with jet ventilation can be fully prevented by using this new jet-ventilator. These data were sustained by nondeteriorating MIS values at the end of the 4-day study period in groups A, C and D.

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