Choosing a ventilator for home mechanical ventilation

Abstract

<h3>Educational aims</h3> To discuss the basic principles of ventilator function To help the reader to recognise the different features of a home care ventilator To outline the advantages and drawbacks of the different home care ventilators To provide some recommendations to facilitate the clinical management of patients on home care ventilator <h3>Summary</h3> Mechanical ventilation, applied either invasively through a tracheotomy tube or noninvasively <i>via</i> a mask, is increasingly used for long-term management of many forms of severe chronic respiratory failure in the home setting. In recent years, the quality of the ventilators for long-term home mechanical ventilation has improved considerably and, concomitantly, the number of machines available has also increased. This broader range of commercially available machines is clearly an advantage; however, it makes the choice of the optimal device for a specific patient more difficult. The aim of the present article is to provide useful information to help and guide the choice of device for long-term mechanical ventilation in the home setting.