Resp Care
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Editorial Comment
Is it time to monitor flow bias during mechanical ventilation?
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Exercise desaturation in patients with COPD is a pathophysiological phenomenon that is not wholly understood and whose clinical consequences are still unclear. ⋯ In patients with moderate to severe COPD, desaturation within the first minute of the 6-min walk test predicts the need for long-term home oxygen at 5-year follow-up.
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Portable ventilators continue to decrease in size while increasing in performance. We bench-tested the triggering, battery duration, and tidal volume (V(T)) of 7 portable ventilators: LTV 1000, LTV 1200, Puritan Bennett 540, Trilogy, Vela, iVent 101, and HT50. ⋯ There was wide variability in battery duration and triggering sensitivity. Five of the ventilators performed adequately in V(T) delivery across several settings. The combination of high respiratory rate and low V(T) presented problems for 2 of the ventilators.