Can manual hyperinflation maneuvers cause aspiration of oropharyngeal secretions in patients under mechanical ventilation?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES To evaluate whether manual hyperinflation maneuvers can cause aspiration of oropharyngeal secretions in patients under mechanical ventilation. METHODS Adult patients under mechanical ventilation in whom a dye was injected in the oropharyngeal cavity and had their tracheal secretion aspirated after 30 minutes (min) participated in this study. In the event of dye slid, the patient was eliminated. The other patients were divided in Control Group: patients in whom tracheal secretions were aspirated after 30, 60, 120, and 180 min, and Experimental Group: after 30 min, manual hyperventilation maneuvers were performed and secretions were aspirated on the established intervals. RESULTS Forty-three patients were enrolled in this study. In 13, dye slippage was observed after 30 min, before allocating them into two groups. In the remaining 29 patients, 226 secretion samples were collected. In only two samples the presence of dye in the secretion was observed after manual hyperinflation maneuvers in the experimental group. CONCLUSION Manual hyperinflation maneuvers did not cause aspiration of oropharyngeal secretions in patients under mechanical ventilation.