Mouthpiece non invasive mechanical ventilation is more frequently used in recent years because mouthpiece ventilation modes are being introduced to available portable ventilators. Often, a patient affected by neuromuscular disease needs noninvasive mechanical ventilation. Sometimes the patient does not accept the treatment, due to excessive air leakage, claustrophobia, anxiety and congiuntiviti...

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Invasive home mechanical ventilation is used for patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency. This elaborate and technology-dependent ventilation is carried out via an artificial airway (tracheal cannula) to the trachea. Exact numbers about the incidence of home mechanical ventilation are not available. Patients with neuromuscular diseases represent a large porti...

Tracheostomy is a common critical care procedure in patients with acute respiratory failure who require prolonged mechanical ventilatory support. Tracheostomy usually is considered if weaning from mechanical ventilation has been unsuccessful for 14 to 21 days. A recent clinical trial suggested that early tracheostomy may benefit patients who are not improving and who are expected to require pro...

Although the trend in the neonatal intensive care unit is to use noninvasive ventilation whenever possible, invasive ventilation is still often necessary for supporting pre-term neonates with lung disease. Many different ventilation modes and ventilation strategies are available to assist with the optimization of mechanical ventilation and prevention of ventilator-induced lung injury. Patient-...

OBJECTIVE To detail the history, modes, physiological effects, and circuit geometry of non-invasive ventilation. DATA SOURCES A review of articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 1966 to 1998 and identified through a MEDLINE search on non-invasive ventilation. SUMMARY OF REVIEW Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has been used for many years as an adjunct to standard therapy in patients...

Objective To compare the results of aortic valve replacement with access by sternotomy or minimally invasive approach. Methods Retrospective analysis of medical records of 37 patients undergoing aortic valve replacement by sternotomy or minimally invasive approach, with emphasis on the comparison of time of cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic clamping, volume of surgical bleeding, time of mecha...

OBJECTIVES A number of complications exist with invasive mechanical ventilation and with the use of and withdrawal from prolonged ventilator support. The use of protocols that enable the systematic identification of patients eligible for an interruption in mechanical ventilation can significantly reduce the number of complications. This study describes the application of a weaning protocol and ...

Acute respiratory failure is a frequent complication in elderly patients especially if suffering from chronic cardio-pulmonary diseases. Non-invasive mechanical ventilation constitutes a successful therapeutic tool in the elderly as, like in younger patients, it is able to prevent endotracheal intubation in a wide range of acute conditions; moreover, this ventilator technique is largely applied...