The aim of this randomised study was to compare the effects of iron lung ventilation (ILV) with invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) due to exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Forty-four patients with ARF were assigned either to ILV (22 patients) or IMV (22 patients). Primary end-points were the improvement in gas exchange and...

The management of respiratory failure during acute exacerbations of COPD and during chronic stable COPD is reviewed and the role of non-invasive and invasive mechanical ventilation is discussed.

OBJECTIVE Few contemporary population-based data exist about the incidence, patient characteristics, and outcomes of mechanical ventilation in acute care hospitals. We sought to describe the epidemiology of mechanical ventilation use in the United States. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study using year 2005 hospital discharge records from six states. National projections were generated from age-...

Results: Non-invasive mechanical ventilation was successful in 62 (66.7%) patients. In 25 (26.9%) patients a late failure was observed. There was no difference between groups 1 and 2 in terms of pretreatment pH, PaCO2 and PaO2/FiO2. However, serum C-reactive protein level, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score and frequency of bronchiectasis and pneumonia were si...

INTRODUCTION Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is not proven to be effective in treating respiratory failure in severe pneumonia. However, some clinicians nevertheless attempt NIV to indirectly deliver adequate oxygenation and avoid unnecessary endotracheal intubation. CASE PRESENTATION In this article, we report the case of a 24-year-old woman at 32 weeks' gestation who presented with hypoxemic...

BACKGROUND Recommendations for acceptable emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) vary internationally with ≤ 8 h generally considered acceptable. Protracted ED LOS may place critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation at increased risk of adverse events as most EDs are not resourced for longitudinal delivery of critical care. Our objective was to quantify the ED LOS for mec...

Introduction Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive and portable lung imaging technique for dynamic evaluation of lung volume distribution. Previous studies had proved the EIT can provide information on regional distribution of ventilation and changes in end-expiratory lung volume (△EELV). The effect of EIT application in ventilation distribution of prolonged mechanical ventila...

background: endotracheal or tracheostomy tube in mechanically ventilated patients disturb verbal communication with others. therefore, patients are frustrated of requesting for their needs or problems related to artificial breathing. therefore investigating self-experiences of these patients can be applied in providing them with a better care by clinical personnel. methods: this is a qualitativ...

Mechanical ventilation is often withdrawn from patients in expectation of death in intensive care units (ICUs). This process involves close collaboration between families and loved ones, physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and other healthcare providers. Because withdrawal of ventilation has important symbolic meaning to families and healthcare providers alike, it is a critical aspect o...