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...

Non-invasive ventilation has been used increasingly in recent years to reduce the duration of endotracheal ventilation and its complications, especially bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Nasal continuous positive airway pressure and nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation are the most common non-invasive modalities, and nasal high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (n-HFOV) is relatively new ...

Legionella pneumophila is an agent also well known to be frequently responsible for severe community acquired pneumonia. Recent studies regarding severe community-acquired pneumonia have shown that Legionella pneumophila is the second most common cause of admission to ICU, not far behind pneumococcal pneumonia. The mortality of severe Legionella pneumonia is high (30%). We report two cases of s...

Non-invasive ventilation was among the earliest forms of respiratory support used in infants with respiratory failure in the early seventies. Its use in preterm infants, however, subsided to the use of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (N-CPAP). Continuous distending pressure provided by N-CPAP improves oxygenation by stabilising lung volume in infants with respiratory distress syndrome...

BACKGROUND Over one million patients are hospitalized each year with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) in the US. Approximately 20% to 40% of them will develop acute cardiorenal syndrome type 1 (ACRS1) via multiple mechanisms. METHODS From January 2010 to December 2010, 197 patients were diagnosed with ADHF. Initial N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP), creatinine leve...

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.