Postoperative Non-invasive Ventilation

Abstract

The efficacy of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) was first demonstrated for the treatment of patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [1, 2, followed by a broader use for other kinds of acute respiratory failure of various etiologies including acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema [3], after solid organ transplant [4], and in immunosuppressed hematology patients [5]. NIV therapy is increasingly popular for the treatment of acute respiratory failure as well as for new indications such as postoperative acute respiratory failure [6–8]. This widening of indications has been accompanied by improvement in and development of ventilation techniques by physicians and manufacturers. The place of NIV in postoperative acute respiratory failure is not yet well established. Nevertheless, use of NIV to avoid reintubation or to treat postoperative acute respiratory failure has often been described in observational and/or randomized studies (Table 1).KeywordsChronic Obstructive Pulmonary DiseaseContinuous Positive Airway PressureAcute Respiratory FailureRespir CritFunctional Residual CapacityThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.