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SUMMARIES FOR PATIENTS

Noninvasive Positive-Pressure Ventilation for Severe Worsening of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

3 June 2003 | Volume 138 Issue 11 | Page I-27

Summaries for Patients are a service provided by Annals to help patients better understand the complicated and often mystifying language of modern medicine.

Summaries for Patients are presented for informational purposes only. These summaries are not a substitute for advice from your own medical provider. If you have questions about this material, or need medical advice about your own health or situation, please contact your physician. The summaries may be reproduced for not-for-profit educational purposes only. Any other uses must be approved by the American College of Physicians.

The summary below is from the full report titled "Which Patients with Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Benefit from Noninvasive Positive-Pressure Ventilation? A Systematic Review of the Literature." It is in the 3 June 2003 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 138, pages 861-870). The authors are S.P. Keenan, T. Sinuff, D.J. Cook, and N.S. Hill.


What is the problem and what is known about it so far?
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease of the air sacs and air passages of the lungs. Usually caused by smoking, damage to the lungs gradually worsens over time. People with COPD are short of breath and sometimes cough and wheeze. Symptoms slowly worsen over time, but most patients also have intermittent bouts of acute worsening of symptoms. Lung infections, cold weather, and exertion may bring on these bouts. With severe bouts, patients need close observation, treatment in the hospital, and, sometimes, a tube in the windpipe (trachea) to help them breathe (intubation). Rather than putting a tube down the trachea, doctors may try to force oxygen into the lungs with a mask over the mouth or nose that is connected to a breathing machine (ventilator) with a tube. This technique is called noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV). Several recent studies have tested whether NPPV actually helps patients with severe bouts of COPD and whether it prevents the need for a tube in the trachea.


Why did the researchers do this particular study?
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To see whether NPPV improves outcomes in patients with acute, severe worsening of COPD.


Who was studied?
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Approximately 700 adults with acute bouts of worsening COPD from 15 different studies of NPPV.


How was the study done?
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Rather than doing a new study, the researchers looked at previous randomized trials that had compared treatment with and without NPPV. Participants in the trials were patients who were hospitalized for acute worsening of COPD. All received standard medical treatments for COPD. Outcomes that were measured included length of hospital stay, deaths in the hospital, and the need for a tube in the trachea. The researchers combined outcomes across the studies to see whether patients who got NPPV did better than those who received only standard therapy without NPPV.


What did the researchers find?
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Adding NPPV to standard care reduced the need for tubes in the trachea by about 28%. Adding NPPV to standard care also shortened hospital stays by 4 to 5 days and reduced hospital deaths by 10%. The researchers also found that NPPV benefited only patients with severe bouts of worsening COPD, not patients with mild worsening of symptoms.


What were the limitations of the study?
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Data about hospitalized patients with milder bouts of worsened COPD were scant. Only two trials included such patients.


What are the implications of the study?
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Noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation should be added to standard care for adults with severe bouts of worsening COPD.


Related articles in Annals:

Summaries for Patients
Noninvasive Positive-Pressure Ventilation for Severe Worsening of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Annals 2003 138: I-27. [Full Text]  

Letters
Noninvasive Ventilation in Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Implications of Different Meta-Analytic Strategies
John V. Peter AND John L. Moran
Annals 2004 141: W-78-W-79. [Full Text]web-only content  



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O. Penuelas MD, F. Frutos-Vivar MD, and A. Esteban MD PhD
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E. Garpestad, J. Brennan, and N. S. Hill
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M. J. Jacka
Ventilatory weaning for Goldilocks/Un sevrage ventilatoire pour Boucle d'Or.
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K. E.A. Burns, N. K.J. Adhikari, and M. O. Meade
A meta-analysis of noninvasive weaning to facilitate liberation from mechanical ventilation: [Une meta-analyse d'un sevrage non effractif pour faciliter le retrait de la ventilation mecanique].
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E. Garpestad and N. Hill
Noninvasive Ventilation for Acute Respiratory Failure: But How Severe?
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R. Scala, M. Naldi, I. Archinucci, G. Coniglio, and S. Nava
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A. Cuvelier, C. Viacroze, J. Benichou, L. C. Molano, M-F. Hellot, D. Benhamou, and J-F. Muir
Dependency on mask ventilation after acute respiratory failure in the intermediate care unit
Eur. Respir. J., August 1, 2005; 26(2): 289 - 297.
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A. Cuomo, M. Delmastro, P. Ceriana, S. Nava, G. Conti, M. Antonelli, and E. Iacobone
Noninvasive mechanical ventilation as a palliative treatment of acute respiratory failure in patients with end-stage solid cancer
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J. V. Peter and J. L. Moran
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J. D. Truwit and G. R. Bernard
Noninvasive Ventilation -- Don't Push Too Hard
N. Engl. J. Med., June 10, 2004; 350(24): 2512 - 2515.
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JWatch GeneralHome page
Noninvasive Positive-Pressure Ventilation for COPD
Journal Watch (General), June 17, 2003; 2003(617): 1 - 1.
[Full Text]


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