Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.
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An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Chest physiotherapy improves lung aeration in hypersecretive critically ill patients: a pilot randomized physiological study.
Besides airway suctioning, patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation (iMV) benefit of different combinations of chest physiotherapy techniques, to improve mucus removal. To date, little is known about the clearance effects of oscillating devices on patients with acute respiratory failure undergoing iMV. This study aimed to assess (1) the effects of high-frequency chest wall oscillation (HFCWO) on lung aeration and ventilation distribution, as assessed by electrical impedance tomography (EIT), and (2) the effect of the association of HFCWO with recruitment manoeuvres (RM). ⋯ In hypersecretive patients, HFCWO significantly improved aeration of the dorsal lung region, without affecting ABGs. The application of RM did not provide any further improvements.