Non-invasive respiratory support in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a mainstay to reduce complications of invasive mechanical ventilation. Nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) in infants is used for situations such as respiratory distress syndrome, apnea of prematurity, bronchomalacia with terminal airway collapse, and in other conditions that require positive pressure. T...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the commonest indication for domiciliary non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in Europe. However, there is a paucity of evidence to support its use. A number of short-term randomised controlled trials (RCTs) failed to show any consistent benefit from NIV. In a crossover study comparing 3 months of bilevel ventilation plus long term oxygen therapy (LTOT)...

The lungs of premature infants are more vulnerable than term infants to the effects of invasive positive pressure ventilation. Published literature supporting the use of non-invasive respiratory support with CPAP, bi-level CPAP mode, such as, SiPAP and Nasal Intermittent Positive Pressure Ventilation (NIPPV), and surfactant administration strategies are discussed. This review focuses on non-inv...

COPD and asthmatic patients use a substantial proportion of mechanical ventilation in the ICU, and their overall mortality with ventilatory support can be significant. From the pathophysiological standpoint, they have increased airway resistance, pulmonary hyperinflation, and high pulmonary dead space, leading to increased work of breathing. If ventilatory demand exceeds work output of the resp...

Both invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation techniques are inherent to the care of most patients admitted to intensive care units. Despite the everyday use of mechanical ventilation for thousands of patients and the availability of thousands of reports in the medical literature, there are no clear and consistent guidelines for the use of mechanical ventilation for pediatric patients. I...

Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is well established and increasingly used in routine clinical practice [1], either in the management of acute respiratory failure, where it has resulted in improved survival and reduced number of complications or in weaning from invasive ventilation in intensive care or highdependency units [2]. However, some concepts and techniques of NIV may be difficult to gras...

INTRODUCTION Nomenclature Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) refers to the provision of ventilatory support through the patient’s upper airway using a mask or similar device. This technique is distinguished from those which bypass the upper airway with a tracheal tube, laryngeal mask, or tracheostomy and are therefore considered invasive. In this document NIV refers to non-invasive positive pressur...

In patients with Late-Onset Pompe Disease (LOPD), progressive respiratory muscle involvement leads to reduced pulmonary function, with respiratory failure the most common cause of mortality. Early disease manifestations include sleep-disordered breathing, which can be treated with non-invasive ventilation; however, progressive diurnal deficits can require invasive ventilation. To determine if p...

BACKGROUND Noninvasive ventilation is routine in acute respiratory failure patients; nevertheless, the literature is controversial for its use in cardiac surgery postoperative period. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of preventive noninvasive ventilation in the immediate postoperative period of cardiac surgery, monitoring its impact until the sixth day of hospitalization. METHODS Thi...

In preterm infants, the need for intubation and mechanical ventilation is associated with ventilator-induced lung injuries and subsequent bronchopulmonary dysplasia. The aim of the present review was to improve the understanding of the mechanisms of injury that involve cytokine-mediated inflammation to contribute to the development of new preventive strategies. Relevant articles were retrieved ...