Respiratory care
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For delivery of inhaled aerosols, vibrating mesh systems are more efficient than jet nebulizers are and do not require added gas flow. We assessed the reliability of a vibrating mesh nebulizer (Aerogen Solo, Aerogen Ltd, Galway Ireland) suitable for use in mechanical ventilation. ⋯ Aerogen Solo nebulization was often randomly interrupted with a wide range of retained volumes.
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Comparative Study
Performance of the New Turbine Mid-Level Critical Care Ventilators.
During recent years, ventilators using turbines as flow-generating systems have become increasingly more relevant. This bench study was designed to compare triggering and pressurization of 7 turbine mid-level ICU ventilators. ⋯ Pressure support mode for tested ventilators worked properly, but pressurization capacity and trigger function performance were clearly superior in the newest machines. The use of PEEP did not modify the results.
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Review Meta Analysis Comparative Study
High-Flow Nasal Cannula in Critically Ill Subjects With or at Risk for Respiratory Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen delivery has been gaining attention as an alternative means of respiratory support for critically ill patients, with recent studies suggesting equivalent outcomes when compared with other forms of oxygen therapy delivery. The main objective of this review was to extract current data about the efficacy of HFNC in critically ill subjects with or at risk for respiratory failure. We performed a systematic review of publications (from database inception to October 2015) that evaluated HFNC in critically ill subjects with or at risk for acute respiratory failure and performed a meta-analysis comparing HFNC with noninvasive ventilation (NIV) and with standard oxygen therapy regarding major outcomes: incidence of invasive mechanical ventilation and ICU mortality. ⋯ Additionally, HFNC use did not reduce ICU mortality compared with NIV (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.23-2.21, P = .56) or with standard oxygen therapy (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.33-1.42, P = .29). There was a trend toward better oxygenation compared with conventional oxygen therapy but a worse gas exchange compared with NIV. At this moment, HFNC therapy seems not to be superior to conventional oxygen therapy or NIV in terms of invasive mechanical ventilation rate or ICU mortality in critical illness, but new studies are needed to determine whether HFNC is associated with any difference in major outcomes when compared with other techniques.
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A 2005 consensus conference led by the National Association for Medical Direction of Respiratory Care (NAMDRC) defined prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) for adults as invasive and/or noninvasive mechanical ventilation (NIV) for ≥ 21 consecutive days for ≥ 6 h/d. In children, no such consensus definition exists. This results in substantial variability in definitional criteria, making study of the impact and outcomes of PMV across and within settings problematic. The objective of this work was to identify how PMV for children and neonates is described in the literature and to outline pediatric/neonatal considerations related to PMV, with the goal of proposing a pediatric/neonatal adaptation to the NAMDRC definition. ⋯ Therefore, we developed the following recommendations for the pediatric PMV definition: ≥ 21 consecutive days (after 37 weeks postmenstrual age) of ventilation for ≥ 6 h/d considering invasive ventilation and NIV and including short interruptions (< 48 h) of ventilation during the weaning process as the same episode of ventilation. We propose a definition of pediatric PMV that incorporates the number of consecutive days of mechanical ventilation while taking into account use of NIV and lung maturity and including short interruptions during the weaning process.