Respiratory care
-
Oxygen therapy via high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) has been extensively used during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of devices has also increased. We conducted this study to answer the following questions: Do HFNC devices differ from the original device for work of breathing (WOB) and generated PEEP? ⋯ WOB was marginally higher and PEEP marginally lower with devices as compared to the reference device.
-
Blunt pulmonary contusions are associated with severe chest injuries and are independently associated with worse outcomes. Previous preclinical studies suggest that contusion progression precipitates poor pulmonary function; however, there are few current clinical data to corroborate this hypothesis. We examined pulmonary dynamics and oxygenation in subjects with pulmonary contusions to evaluate for impaired respiratory function. ⋯ Pulmonary contusions played an important role in the course of subjects who were acutely injured and required mechanical ventilation. Contusions were associated with hypoxemia not fully characterized by [Formula: see text]: [Formula: see text], and severe contusions had durable elevations in the oxygenation index despite confounders.
-
Long-term oxygen therapy in COPD is usually supervised through home-care respiratory programs. Such programs often involve an intensive education intervention at the initiation of long-term oxygen therapy, followed by an extended follow-up period that aims toward home oxygen adherence. The objective of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness ratio of such a maintenance program. ⋯ An extended home-visit program to maintain or improve adherence to long-term oxygen therapy in patients with COPD would most likely be cost-effective.
-
Under-humidification and associated complications may occur with heated humidifiers. Hygrometric performances of heated wire humidifiers are reduced by high ambient and high outlet ventilator temperatures. Currently, there is no reliable monitoring tool to evaluate humidification performances of heated wire humidifiers in the daily practice. We sought to demonstrate the relation between humidity delivered by heated wire humidifiers and different parameters that could be used to monitor humidity of gas delivered to subjects. ⋯ In this bench study, we have shown a good correlation between heater plate temperature and humidity delivered with a heated wire humidifier. This means that a "hidden" hygrometer is built into the heated wire humidifier. Heater plate temperature should be used as a surrogate of humidity to improve the humidification monitoring.