In 1983, King and colleagues, at the Meakins Christie Laboratories in Montréal, documented that high-frequency chest wall compression (HFCWC) markedly enhanced tracheal mucus clearance in anesthetized dogs.1 They speculated that this may benefit patients with mucus-clearance disorders, and in 1990 Hansen and Warwick first reported the development of an HFCWC device that enhanced mucus clearance...

Patients receiving nebulized respiratory treatments and airway clearance therapies often combine the treatments to decrease treatment time, despite a lack of data supporting this practice. Moreover, manufacturers advertise simultaneous use in their marketing. The airway clearance devices that allow concomitant administration of aerosol can be classified as those that alter the pathway of the ae...

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease characterised by the production of infected secretions, and it requires lifelong daily treatment by airway clearance. We knew that some women attending our clinic for adults with cystic fibrosis leaked urine when performing airway clearance or spirometry, but they were dismissive during discussion and were rarely forthcoming about the problem. This study ...

The effective use of nursing diagnosis internationally depends in part on incorporating language and cultural difference into the common language of nursing. International validation studies can provide a basis for this effort. This study tested three diagnoses--anxiety, hopelessness, and ineffective airway clearance--through multinational validation. The Diagnostic Content Validity (DCV) model...

Chloride transport proteins play critical roles in inflammatory airway diseases, contributing to the detrimental aspects of mucus overproduction, mucus secretion, and airway constriction. However, they also play crucial roles in contributing to the innate immune properties of mucus and mucociliary clearance. In this review, we focus on the emerging novel roles for a chloride channel regulator (...

Patients with neuromuscular disorders undergoing general anesthesia present a special set of respiratory problems for perioperative management. While there are disease-specific concerns, there are many common themes in the respiratory management of patients with neuromuscular disorders. These problems are discussed in this review. Such common perioperative concerns include upper airway obstruct...

Inhalation of cigarette smoke is known to impair pulmonary mucociliary clearance. Active ion transport by airway epithelium plays an important role in maintaining effective mucociliary clearance by regulating the volume and composition of the airway secretions. To determine the effect of cigarette smoke on airway epithelial ion transport, the electrical properties and transepithelial Na and Cl ...