BACKGROUND Dysfunctional breathing/hyperventilation syndrome (DB/HVS) is a respiratory disorder, psychologically or physiologically based, involving breathing too deeply and/or too rapidly (hyperventilation) or erratic breathing interspersed with breath-holding or sighing (DB). DB/HVS can result in significant patient morbidity and an array of symptoms including breathlessness, chest tightness,...

BACKGROUND Although evaluation of cardiac output by the partial carbon dioxide rebreathing technique is as accurate as thermodilution techniques under controlled mechanical ventilation, it is less accurate at low tidal volume. It is not clear whether reduced accuracy is due to low tidal volume or low minute ventilation. The effect of spontaneous breathing on the accuracy of partial carbon dioxi...

BACKGROUND Breathlessness is a common and distressing symptom in the advanced stages of malignant and non-malignant diseases. Appropriate management requires both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. OBJECTIVES The primary objective was to determine the effectiveness of non-pharmacological and non-invasive interventions to relieve breathlessness in participants suffering fro...

A method for deriving respiratory rate from an armband, which records three-channel electrocardiogram (ECG) using three pairs of dry (no hydrogel) electrodes, is presented. The armband device especially convenient long-term (months-years) monitoring because it does not use obstructive leads nor hydrogels/adhesives, cause skin irritation even after few days. An ECG-derived respiration (EDR) base...

Helium is a low-density inert gas whose physical properties are very different from those of nitrogen and oxygen. Such properties could be clinically useful in the adult critical care setting, especially in patients with upper to more distal airway obstruction requiring moderate to intermediate levels of FiO2. However, despite decades of utilization and reporting, it is still difficult to give ...

INTRODUCTION Pediatric sleep-disordered breathing is a continuum, with primary snoring at one end, and complete upper airway obstruction, hypoxemia, and obstructive hypoventilation at the other. The latter gives rise to obstructive sleep apnea. An important predisposing factor in the development and progression of pediatric sleep-disordered breathing might be craniofacial disharmony. The purpos...