Helmet-based ventilation is superior to face mask for patients with respiratory distress

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/uocm-hvi051616.php

Public Release: 16-May-2016
Helmet-based ventilation is superior to face mask for patients with respiratory distress
Novel approach reduces need for intubation and lowers 90-day mortality
University of Chicago Medical Center

A new study shows that using a transparent air-tight helmet instead of a face mask helps critically ill patients breathe better and can prevent them from needing a ventilator. Patients with helmet ventilation also spent less time in the intensive care unit and had better survival.

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"After reviewing our data," he added, "the board felt that it would be difficult to justify enrolling more patients in the face-mask arm of the trial, which exposed them to greater risks."

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All patients were severely ill with a 50 percent risk of requiring intubation or dying in the intensive care unit. About half of the patients had weakened immune systems from cancer or transplantation.

Patients in the helmet group, however, were three times less likely to require intubation, the study's primary endpoint. Only 18.2 percent of those wearing a helmet required an endotracheal tube, versus 61.5 percent of those wearing a face mask. The helmet group had, on average, more ventilator-free days (28 vs 12.5).

Helmet patients were also more likely to survive. When compared at 90 days, 34 percent (15 patients) in the helmet group had died, compared to 56 percent (22 patients) in the face mask group.

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