BACKGROUND Nasal non-invasive-ventilation (Nasal NIV) is a mode of ventilatory support providing positive pressure to patients via a nasal interface. The RAM Cannula is an oxygen delivery device that can be used as an alternative approach to deliver positive pressure. Together they have been successfully used to provide respiratory support in neonatal in-patient settings. OBJECTIVE To describ...

OBJECTIVE To describe survival outcomes with noninvasive ventilation (NIV) for full ventilatory support, and a mechanically assisted cough and oximetry protocol in a series of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. METHODS We monitored end-tidal carbon dioxide (P(ETCO(2))), S(pO(2)), vital capacity, maximum insufflation capacity, and cough peak flow. Nocturnal NIV was initiated for sympto...

INTRODUCTION Delivering synchronous assist during non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is challenging with flow- or pressure-controlled ventilators, especially in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) uses diaphragm electrical activity (EAdi) to control the ventilator. We evaluated patient-ventilator interaction in patients with COPD d...

Nipah virus (NiV) is an enigmatic emerging pathogen that causes severe and often fatal neurologic and/or respiratory disease in both animals and humans. Amongst people, case fatality rates range between 40 and 75 percent and there are no vaccines or treatments approved for human use. Guinea pigs, hamsters, cats, ferrets, pigs and most recently squirrel monkeys (New World monkey) have been evalu...

Introduction Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is the first line supportive treatment in case of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF). NIV efficacy is continuously monitored using clinical parameters (respiratory frequency, use of accessory respiratory muscles). The assessment of NIV efficacy however usually requires repeated blood gas analysis after 30 or 60 minutes of treatment. A reliab...

The aim of this article was to review the role of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in acute pulmonary infectious diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H1N1 and tuberculosis, and to assess the risk of disease transmission with the use of NIV from patients to healthcare workers. We performed a clinical review by searching Medline and EMBASE. These databases were searched for ar...

Among the respiratory events that may occur during nocturnal noninvasive ventilation (NIV), differentiating between central and obstructive events requires appropriate indicators of respiratory effort. The aim of the present study was to assess pulse transit time (PTT) as an indicator of respiratory effort under NIV in comparison with oesophageal pressure (P(oes)). During wakefulness, PTT was c...

Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) successfully treats primary respiratory failure in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), acute pulmonary edema, and, in some patients, hypoxemic respiratory failure. Increasingly clinicians have applied NIV in an effort to shorten the duration of mechanical ventilation by facilitating weaning and preventing or treating post-extubation respiratory failure. R...

Nipah virus (NiV) is a member of the genus Henipavirus (family Paramyxoviridae) that causes severe and often lethal respiratory illness and encephalitis in humans with high mortality rates (up to 92%). NiV can cause Acute Lung Injury (ALI) in humans, and human-to-human transmission has been observed in recent outbreaks of NiV. While the exact route of transmission to humans is not known, we hav...

The use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in the management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is now supported by a number of randomised controlled trials. It has been shown to reduce intubation rates, 3–5 mortality, 2–5 and length of stay. 4 It has the advantage that it can be applied intermittently, avoids the need for sedation, and allows the patient to e...