Weaning from ventilator and effect of Blender-Humidifier on outcome of it

Background and objectives: the weaning procedure of mechanical ventilation in many patients is a difficult and long process and increases the time of mechanical ventilation. There are numerous ways to achieve this goal. One common way is using CPAP-ventilator. Considering the lower price of Blender-Humidifier compared to CPAPof ventilator and the limited number of studies in this field, this study was aimed to compare these two procedures.Methods: 102 patients in pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) were allocated randomly in one group: CPAP-ventilator and Blender-Humidifier. Duration of hospital and PICU stay, the number of days of mechanichal ventilation, the frequency of re-intubation, and the mortality of the patients were recorded. Results: the study was conducted on 66 male and 36 female patients (64.7% and 35.3% respectively). The average age was 22.5 ± 4.5 months. The most frequent complaint of the patients at the time of visit was coughing (35%), hyperventilation and respiratory distress (21.6%). Hospital stay was 23±14 and 20±12days in humidifier and cpap groups respectively (p=0/52).PICU stay was 15± 11and 20±11 days in humidifier and cpap groups respectively (p=0/18).Re- intubation rate was 16/2% and 33/5% in humidifier and cpap groups respectively (p=0/15).Mortality rate 8/4% and 21.5% in humidifier and cpap groups respectively (p=0/06). Conclusion: Although there was no statistically significant difference between two groups, considering the differences in mortality rate, the need for re-intubation, rate of hospital and PICU stay, and at the same time, with easy availability and low prices, using Blender- Humidifier is recommended.