BACKGROUND Independent bench studies using specific ventilation scenarios allow testing of the performance of ventilators in conditions similar to clinical settings. The aims of this study were to determine the accuracy of the latest generation ventilators to deliver chosen parameters in various typical conditions and to provide clinicians with a comprehensive report on their performance. MET...

OBJECTIVES To compare outcomes of children receiving noninvasive ventilation with those receiving invasive ventilation as first-line mode of mechanical ventilation following unplanned intensive care admission. DESIGN Propensity score-matched cohort study analyzing data prospectively collected by the Pediatric Intensive Care Audit Network over 8 years (2007-2014). SETTING Thirty-one PICUs in...

Introduction Tracheobronchial foreign body aspiration is a common life-threatening condition in children. There are controversies in the management of this condition, including the type of ventilation during bronchoscopy.  This study aims to compare anesthesia with controlled ventilation versus spontaneous ventilation in rigid bronchoscopy in children with foreign body aspiration.  Materials...

Mechanical ventilation is the most widely used supportive technique in intensive care units. Several forms of external support for respiration have long been described to assist the failing ventilatory pump, and access to lower airways through tracheostomy or endotracheal tubes had constituted a major advance in the management of patients with respiratory distress. More recently, however, new "...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease in which most patients die of respiratory failure. Although volume-targeted non-invasive bilevel positive airway pressure (BPAP) ventilation has been studied in patients with chronic respiratory failure of various etiologies, its use in ALS has not been reported. We present the case of a 66-year-old woman with ALS an...

Record keeping for patients on non-invasive ventilation (NIV) at St. Georges Hospital is poor. The initial NIV prescription is often not recorded, and changes to the NIV prescription or the rationale for the changes (ABG results) are also poorly documented. This leads to confusion for nurses/doctors as to what the correct settings are, meaning patients could receive ineffective ventilation. The...

Non-invasive ventilation use in acute COPD exacerbation and respiratory failure is very strong, however the evidence beyond home non-invasive for patients less clear. In this review we summarize literature on effectiveness of mortality, hospital admission rates, quality life, lung functions, gas exchange, exercise tolerance as well mood anxiety. Published guidelines from multiple societies most...