BACKGROUND Swallowing difficulties are common, and dysphagia occurs frequently in intensive care unit (ICU) patients after extubation. Yet, no guidelines on postextubation swallowing assessment exist. We aimed to investigate the safety and effectiveness of nurse-performed screening (NPS) for postextubation dysphagia in the medical ICU. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study of mech...

INTRODUCTION Although cuff leak test has been proposed as a simple method of predicting the occurrence of postextubation stridor, cut-off point of cuff-leak volume substantially differs between previous studies. In addition, laryngeal ultrasonography including measurement of air column width could predict postextubation stridor. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the value of laryngea...

BACKGROUND Extubation failure is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, but cannot be safely predicted or avoided. High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) prevents postextubation respiratory failure in low-risk patients. OBJECTIVE To demonstrate that HFNC reduces postextubation respiratory failure in high-risk non-hypercapnic patients compared with conventional oxygen. METHODS Randomized...

INTRODUCTION Prophylactic steroid therapy to reduce the occurrence of postextubation laryngeal edema is controversial. Only a limited number of prospective trials involve adults in an intensive care unit. The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether administration of multiple doses of dexamethasone to critically ill, intubated patients reduces or prevents the occurrence of postextubation ...

Obstructive fibrinous tracheal pseudomembrane (OFTP) is an airway complication that occurs after endotracheal intubation. It originates from superficial mucosal abrasion and desquamation of necrotic tracheal epithelium at the site of cuff pressure. This condition is a rare cause of postextubation stridor. We present a case of postextubation stridor secondary to OFTP, resulting in clinical featu...

748 March 2013 U ncuffed tracheal tubes (TTs) have been the standard for tracheal intubation in infants and children for decades until the recent introduction of the Microcuff (Kimberley-clark, Roswell, GA) cuffed TT. evidence suggests that the incidence of perioperative airway events after use of these new TTs is small,1,2 although the evidence for their safe use in neonates and young infants ...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether treatment with corticosteroids decreases the incidence of postextubation airway obstruction in an adult intensive care unit. DESIGN Clinical experiment. SETTING Adult medical and surgical intensive care unit of a teaching hospital. PATIENTS One hundred twenty-eight patients who were intubated for >24 hrs with a cuff leak volume <24% of tidal volume and met w...

BACKGROUND Reintubation after pediatric cardiac surgery is associated with a high rate of mortality. Therefore, adequate respiratory support for postextubation acute respiratory failure (ARF) is important. However, little is known about the physiological impact of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy on ARF after pediatric cardiac surgery. Our working hypothesis was that HFNC therapy for post...

To evaluate postextubation swallowing dysfunction (PSD) 21 days after endotracheal extubation and to examine whether PSD is time-limited and whether age matters.For this prospective cohort study, we evaluated 151 adult critical care patients (≥20 years) who were intubated for at least 48 hours and had no pre-existing neuromuscular disease or swallowing dysfunction. Participants were assessed fo...