Non-invasive ventilation after extubation can cut risk of respiratory failure
A recent study showed that non-invasive oxygen ventilation reduced rates of respiratory failure and reintubation in recently extubated, at-risk patients more effectively than convention oxygen therapy.
NON-INVASIVE VENTILATION AFTER EXTUBATION can prevent respiratory failure in at-risk patients. A recent issue of The Lancet described a study in which mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care, who had chronic respiratory disorders and hypercapnia, were extubated and assigned to either non-invasive ventilation or conventional oxygen treatment.
Respiratory failure after extubation in patients assigned non-invasive ventilation was 15%, compared with 48% in the conventional oxygen therapy group. In patients with respiratory failure, non-invasive ventilation as rescue therapy avoided reintubation in 17 of 27 patients. The 90-day mortality was lower in patients assigned non-invasive ventilation than in those allocated conventional oxygen (p=0·0146).
Ferrer M, Sellarés J, Valencia M, et al. Non-invasive ventilation after extubation in hypercapnic patients with chronic respiratory disorders: randomised controlled trial. [Published online ahead of print August 13, 2009]. Lancet. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61038-2. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61038-2/abstract/. Accessed August 18, 2009.
