Respiratory care
-
Some pediatric patients receiving therapeutic aerosols undergo tracheostomy, and others who are tracheostomized continue requiring inhaled therapies upon decannulation. It is unknown whether a dose adjustment is required. Different devices are available for facial and tracheostomy delivery, and in some instances, the assisted technique is used. We hypothesized that the change from face mask to tracheostomy would result in a decrease in the lung dose. ⋯ The effect of changing the delivery route from face to tracheostomy was variable and depended on the delivery device and the breathing pattern. There is no advantage of using the assisted technique to enhance aerosol delivery.
-
Comparative Study
Effects of Breathing Pattern on Oxygen Delivery Via a Nasal or Pharyngeal Cannula.
During sedation for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, oxygen delivery via a nasal cannula is often necessary. However, the influences of the oxygen delivery route and breathing pattern on the F(IO2) have not been thoroughly investigated. The aim of this simulation study was to investigate the difference in the F(IO2) with a pharyngeal cannula versus nasal cannula during high- or low-tidal volume (V(T)) ventilation and open- or closed-mouth breathing. ⋯ A pharyngeal cannula provided a higher F(IO2) compared with a nasal cannula at the same oxygen flow. Open-mouth breathing resulted in a higher F(IO2) compared with closed-mouth breathing when 5 L/min oxygen was delivered via a pharyngeal cannula. The breathing pattern did not affect the F(IO2) in this study.
-
Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy is one of the factors implicated in the high morbidity and mortality rate in patients with COPD. Thus, several studies and nonsystematic reviews have increasingly reported autonomic function impairment in these subjects. For a better understanding, this systematic review was performed to evaluate not only the evidence for autonomic function impairment, but also factors influencing it. ⋯ The results of this review highlight relevant clinical messages for clinicians and other health-care providers regarding the role autonomic function can play as an important physiological marker for prognostication and stratification. Hence, autonomic function outcomes should be identified and considered during management of patients with COPD. Moreover, this review can serve as basis for future research aimed at assessing the interventions for autonomic function abnormalities in these patients.
-
Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) tolerance has been identified as an independent predictor of survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Volume control continuous mandatory ventilation (VC-CMV) NIV has been associated with poor tolerance. The aim of this study was to determine the tolerance of subjects with ALS to VC-CMV NIV. ⋯ Eighty-seven subjects with ALS were included. After 3 months, 80 subjects (92%) remained tolerant of NIV. Tolerant subjects presented greater survival (median 22.0 months, 95% CI 14.78-29.21) than intolerant subjects (median 6.0 months, 95% CI 0.86-11.13) (P = .03). The variables that best predicted NIV tolerance were mechanically assisted cough peak flow (P = .01) and percentage of time spent with SpO2 < 90% at night while on NIV (P = .03) CONCLUSIONS: VC-CMV NIV provides high rates of NIV tolerance in subjects with ALS. Mechanically assisted cough peak flow and percentage of time spent with SpO2 < 90% at night while using NIV are the 2 factors associated with tolerance of VC-CMV NIV in subjects with ALS.
-
Protective lung ventilation requires calculating predicted body weight (BW) from height. Thus, inaccuracy of height data in the electronic health record (EHR) is a risk factor for ventilator-induced lung injury. Charted height data often have uncertain accuracy. Study purposes were (1) to evaluate the difference between patient height charted in the EHR and predicted height (PH) from ulnar length and (2) to determine how the height data source affects predicted BW and the resulting values for protective tidal volume (V(T)). ⋯ For overall populations, mean height calculated from values charted in the EHR is similar to that estimated from ulnar length. However, for individuals, differences in height between the 2 sources can be large, leading to large differences in predicted BW and resultant V(T) set in terms of mL/kg.