Abstract
BACKGROUND: Noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) unloads respiratory muscles. Spontaneous-breathing ventilation modes require patient effort to trigger the ventilator, whereas controlled modes potentially economize on patient triggering effort and thus achieve more complete respiratory muscle rest. Data on controlled NPPV have not been published to date. We hypothesize that controlled ventilation is feasible in patients with hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
METHODS: We measured blood gas values, respiratory muscle strength, spontaneous breathing pattern, and lung function before and after a 3-month period of NPPV in 305 patients (213 male, mean ± SD age 61.3 ± 8.6 y). The subjects used a controlled NPPV mode when they could tolerate it.
RESULTS: Ninety-one percent of the patients were able to adapt to a controlled NPPV mode. In those patients, daytime PCO2 decreased from 56.7 ± 7.5 mm Hg to 47.5 ± 6.6 mm Hg (p < 0.001) and PO2 increased from 49.2 ± 8.8 mm Hg to 56.2 ± 8.5 mm Hg (p < 0.001). Their mean maximum inspiratory pressure increased from 42.3 ± 16.9 cm H2O to 48.4 ± 18.0 cm H2O (p < 0.001). Their mean vital capacity increased from 1.89 ± 0.62 L to 1.99 ± 0.67 L (p = 0.004). And their spontaneous breathing pattern became less rapid and shallow.
CONCLUSIONS: Controlled NPPV is feasible in patients with hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We observed improved blood gas values, lung function, and inspiratory muscle strength.
- blood gas analysis
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- copd
- chronic respiratory failure
- lung function
- noninvasive ventilation
Footnotes
- Correspondence: Dominic Dellweg MD, Zentrum für Pneumologie, Beatmung, und Schlafmedizin Allergologie, Fachkrankenhaus Kloster Grafschaft, Annostraße 1, 57392 Schmallenberg, Germany. E-mail: d.dellweg{at}fkkg.de.
The authors report no conflicts of interest related to the content of this paper.
- Copyright © 2007 by Daedalus Enterprises Inc.