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Noninvasive ventilation for acute respiratory failure: a prospective
randomised placebo-controlled trial
F. Thys
*
, J. Roeseler
#
, M. Reynaert
*
, G. Liistro
}
, D.O. Rodenstein
}
Noninvasive ventilation for acute respiratory failure: a prospective randomised placebo-
controlled trial. F. Thys, J. Roeseler, M. Reynaert, G. Liistro, D.O. Rodenstein.
#ERS Journals Ltd 2002.
ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study was to clarify whether the known effects of
noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) in patients with respiratory failure are
real or due to placebo effects and whether early application of NPPV in the emergency
department leads to rapid improvement of the patients condition and outcome.
A prospective randomised placebo-controlled study was conducted in 20 patients with
severe acute respiratory failure (ARF) secondary to an acute exacerbation of chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or acute pulmonary oedema, not improving
under conventional medical therapy and on the edge of intubation. Patients received
either conventional medical therapy plus two-level NPPV (bi-level NPPV) or
conventional medical therapy plus "placebo"NPPV.
The main outcome measures involved the need for endotracheal intubation in the bi-
level NPPV arm and in the placebo arm after crossing over to active NPPV. Morbidity,
length of stay, mortality and the effect of the ventilatory mode on clinical, arterial-
blood gas parameters, and the sternocleidomastoid muscles electromyogram (EMG)
activity were also measured.
The 10 patients in the active NPPV group rapidly improved and none needed
intubation. Placebo NPPV resulted in no change in the clinical condition of patients
that continued to worsen and the 10 patients were crossed over to active NPPV. Three
patients were intubated. No differences in terms of morbidity, length of stay or
mortality between the two groups were observed. Active NPPV (but not placebo
NPPV) led to a rapid and significant improvement in the clinical parameters, pH and
the carbon dioxide tension in arterial blood and to a decrease in respiratory frequency
and sternocleidomastoid EMG activity.
Early application of bi-level noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation in patients with
severe acute respiratory failure, due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and acute
pulmonary oedema, leads to a rapid improvement in clinical status and blood gases.
Noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation had no placebo effect.
Eur Respir J 2002; 20: 545–555.
Depts of *Emergency,
#
Physical
Therapy and }Pneumology, Cliniques
universitaires Saint-Luc, Universite´
catholique de Louvain, Brussels,
Belgium.
Correspondence: F. Thys
Service des Urgences
Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc
Universite´ catholique de Louvain
Avenue Hippocrate 10
B-1200 Bruxelles
Belgium
Fax: 32 27641620
E-mail: Thys@rean.ucl.ac.be
Keywords: Acute respiratory failure
emergency department
noninvasive ventilation
Received: October 19 2001
Accepted after revision: March 19 2002
The present study was partly support-
ed by a grant to F. Thys from the
"Fondation Saint-Luc".
Patients with acute respiratory distress usually
arrive at the hospital via the emergency department
(ED), where the initial management leads quite
rapidly either to improvement and subsequent transfer
to a medical ward, or transfer into an intensive care
unit (ICU). In extreme cases, patients unresponsive to
medical therapy are submitted to mechanical ventila-
tion. The latter is usually administered in the ICU
rather than in the ED. Until recently, mechanical
ventilation required endotracheal intubation. Cur-
rently, several well-conducted studies have shown
that noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV)
via a nasal or facial mask is at least as effective as
invasive ventilation in several conditions, with less
complications and better outcomes [1–11].
Two problems remain to be answered. On the one
hand, at least one study in patients with moderate-to-
severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
in acute respiratory failure (ARF) has shown that
NPPV added no value to well-conducted medical
treatment, casting some doubt on the real value of
NPPV, at least in patients not needing immediate
transfer to the ICU [12]. A second study found an
increased rate of myocardial infarction in patients
with respiratory failure due to acute pulmonary
oedema (APO) treated with NPPV [13]. On the
other hand, all studies proving the benefit of NPPV
in this acute setting were performed either in the ICU
or the general ward, that is some (unspecified) time
after the initial admission of the patient via the ED.
During this unspecified time, patients were probably
treated with the usual medical therapy, including
unknown amounts of oxygen (O
2
) supplementation.
Patients could have improved, deteriorated or
remained stable during this time. Therefore, patients
arriving in the wards or ICU are not necessarily in the
same status as when they arrived in the ED. Early
institution of noninvasive mechanical ventilation in
Eur Respir J 2002; 20: 545–555
DOI: 10.1183/09031936.02.00287402
Printed in UK – all rights reserved
Copyright #ERS Journals Ltd 2002
European Respiratory Journal
ISSN 0903-1936
the ED seems feasible, and some data suggest that it
could lead to rapid improvement in some patients
[14–17].
However, NPPV, by its very nature, could imply a
powerful placebo effect leading to clinical improve-
ment, for instance in dyspnoea, tachypnoea, anxiety
and agitation, independent of the improvement due to
medical treatment. It is impossible to separate these
possible effects, since in all studies performed to date
NPPV plus medical therapy was compared to medical
therapy alone or intubation and mechanical ventila-
tion. This is not a trivial matter, since many patients
could be submitted to useless treatment in the ED,
ICU and also the general wards. Indeed, presently,
there is a generalised tendency to institute NPPV in
many patients not necessarily representative of the
patients included in the well-designed studies pub-
lished in the literature.
This randomised, placebo-controlled single-blind
study was designed to answer two questions: 1) can
NPPV be performed in an ED very early after patient
admission with a similar benefit seen in the need for
intubation, length of stay and mortality as in previous
studies and; 2) does early NPPV have a real, rather
than a placebo effect, both on objectively measured
parameters and on the clinical status of the patient.
According to previous literature, only patients with
two primary diagnoses (COPD and APO) were
studied.
Material and methods
Study location and patient selection
The study protocol was approved by the Ethical
Practices Committee of the authors9hospital in
accordance with the principles of good clinical prac-
tice. Informed oral consent was obtained from all
study participants. The study was conducted in the
ED of an urban university teaching hospital (884
beds). During a 2-yr period (1999–2000), patients with
acute respiratory distress secondary to either an acute
exacerbation of COPD or APO were eligible for this
investigation. Cardiogenic pulmonary oedema was
defined as orthopnoea, bibasilar crackles, bilateral
perihilar infiltrates on chest radiograph with cardio-
megaly and a compatible clinical history. An acute
exacerbation of COPD was defined as acute respira-
tory distress in a cigarette smoker with a known
history of long-lasting dyspnoea on exertion with fre-
quent exacerbations and cough, and mucus hyper-
production, without symptoms or signs of other
specific causes (absence of pneumothorax, pneumo-
nia, pleural effusion, no reason to suspect an episode
of pulmonary embolism). Patients were entered into
the study if they were aged w18 yrs and had evidence
of ARF as demonstrated by three of the following
criteria: acute onset of moderate-to-severe dyspnoea
as assessed by the ED physician who took care of the
patient; a respiratory rate w30 (or v10) breaths?min
-1
;
hypoxaemia (oxygen tension in arterial blood (Pa,O
2
)
v7.3 kPa (55 mmHg) (on room air)) or need for O
2
supplementation; respiratory acidosis (pHv7.33). The
diagnosis of ARF and the decision to include the
patient into the study was the responsibility of the ED
physician (independent of the investigators). Patients
were excluded from this investigation if they had any
of the following: 1) an immediate indication for endo-
tracheal intubation (respiratory and/or cardiac arrest);
2) major unrest; 3) haemodynamic instability despite a
fluid challenge; 4) facial or thoracic trauma; 5) lack of
cooperation; 6) difficult adaptation of a facial mask to
a patient9s facial anatomy; 6) clinical suspicion of
pulmonary embolism; 7) retrosternal pain suggestive
of a myocardial ischaemia even with a normal admis-
sion electrocardiogram (ECG).
Study design
The trial was designed to enrol 60 patients (on the
basis of previous studies, the percentage of patients
expected to respond to conventional therapy at 30 and
70% NPPV was evaluated). Therefore, with 30 patients
per group, there was a 95% chance of rejecting the null
hypothesis [18]. Planned interim analysis was per-
formed after 20 and 40 patients had been enrolled.
Patients were eligible into the study if, after an initial
period of medical treatment, the attending physician
judged that intubation and mechanical ventilation was
to be considered. The following initial treatments were
administered: supplemental O
2
, intravenous vasodila-
tors (isosorbide dinitrate 2 mg?h
-1
) and intravenous
diuretics (furosemide 40 mg) for cardiogenic pulmo-
nary oedema and; supplemental O
2
, bronchodilator-
aerosol therapy (fenoterol 1,500 mg and ipratropium
bromide 0.4 mg) repeated every 20 min and intra-
venous glucocorticoids (methylprednisolone 80 mg) for
acute exacerbation of COPD. Patients not improving
under this treatment were included into the study
while this treatment continued. Patients were randomly
assigned to receive conventional medical therapy plus
two-level NPPV (bi-level NPPV) or conventional
medical therapy plus "placebo"NPPV. Randomisa-
tion was performed using opaque, sealed envelopes
which were opened at the time of inclusion into the
study by batches of 20 envelopes. The study treatment
was continued until the attending physician (who was
continuously present throughout the study at the
bedside) interrupted the treatment either after the
patient improved or after the treatment was consid-
ered to have failed. Failure was defined in advance as
a deterioration in clinical status including all of the
following: dyspnoea, respiratory and/or heart fre-
quency, sweating and agitation or deterioration in
blood gases and/or in haemodynamic status. Success
was defined as clear improvement in both the blood
gases and the clinical status. Treatment success led to
study end. In case of treatment failure, endotracheal
intubation was applied to patients in the active NPPV
group. Patients in the placebo group, in whom
intubation was deemed necessary, were submitted
first to active NPPV (rescue protocol). At all times the
attending physician could decide to interrupt the
study.
546 F. THYS ET AL.
Active bi-level noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation
protocol
Patients randomised to receive bi-level NPPV were
evaluated by two investigators. With respect to the
time of arrival of the patient to the ED, this implied
a delay dependent on two factors: the time necessary
for the ED physician to decide inclusion and the time
necessary for the investigators to arrive to the ED
and start the protocol. Bi-level NPPV was delivered
by a ventilatory support system (BiPAP1ST/D 30;
Respironics, Inc., Murrysville, PA, USA) with a
standard expiratory port. Bi-level NPPV was insti-
tuted with a face mask (Bird, Bird Corp., CA, USA)
with the patient in a semirecumbent position. The
expiratory pressure was set at the minimal pressure
level (4 cmH
2
O) and the inspiratory pressure was set
at 10 cmH
2
O. The machine was used in the assist-
control mode with a backup frequency of 10?min
-1
.In
all patients, the inspiratory pressure was increased by
2 cm of water steps, until the patient showed signs of
discomfort (increasing sensation of dyspnoea) or leaks
were observed between the face mask and the skin
or a pressure of 20 cmH
2
O was reached. Thereafter,
expiratory pressure was similarly increased until
discomfort appeared. A gastric tube was not used.
During the institution of bi-level NPPV, O
2
was added
with a nasal catheter inside the mask as needed to
obtain a saturation of 90% (assessed by pulse
oxymetry).
Placebo noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation
protocol
The design of the placebo NPPV protocol was
strictly the same as the active bi-level NPPV protocol.
Placebo-device ventilation was delivered by the same
ventilatory support system. In this arm of the pro-
tocol, the T-connector piece of the device between the
mask and the tubing was substituted by a specially
designed T-connector with several holes. With this
pierced T-connector, the inspiratory and expiratory
pressures delivered through the face mask were
equal to zero. The influence of the placebo NPPV on
the respiratory work of breathing (WOB) and its
rebreathing (dead space) effect had been assessed
previously in five and seven normal subjects respec-
tively (see below) and were found to result in no
significant change in WOB or increase in end-tidal
carbon dioxide (PET,CO
2
).
During the institution of this placebo-device venti-
lation, O
2
was added with a nasal catheter inside the
mask as needed to obtain a saturation of 90%.
Outcome measures
The main outcome measure was the difference in
the number of patients failing noninvasive ventilation
in each arm of the study. For the active arm, failure
was defined as the need for endotracheal intubation;
for the placebo arm, failure was defined as the need to
stop placebo NPPV and to cross over to active
ventilation (either noninvasive ventilation or, if this
failed, through endotracheal intubation). As second-
ary end points, the effects of the ventilatory mode on
the clinical and arterial-blood gas parameters, and on
sternocleidomastoid muscle activity were evaluated.
Hospital mortality, admission to the ICU, the length
of ED stay, the length of ICU stay and the length of
hospital stay were also assessed.
Physiological measurements
During the clinical study, the intensity of dyspnoea
was measured by a 10-cm long visual analogue scale
with 0 measuring normal breathing and 10 unbearable
dyspnoea. Dyspnoea was assessed by the patient, and
also by the nursing team and the investigators, at
different times throughout the protocol (see below).
The arterial blood gases (pH, Pa,O
2
, carbon dioxide
tension in arterial blood (Pa,CO
2
) and arterial oxygen
saturation) were measured at the time of randomisa-
tion, after 20 min of active or sham ventilation, and at
the end of ventilatory assistance. The following para-
meters were continuously recorded in digital form:
ECG from three surface electrodes placed on the chest
wall, pulse rate and pulse oxymetry from a Datex
oxymeter (Datex, Helsinki, Finland) equipped with a
finger probe, systolic and diastolic blood pressure with
an arm-brassard sphygmomanometer (Datex), the
thoracic and abdominal respiratory movements and
their sum obtained with an uncalibrated respiratory
inductive plethysmograph (Respitrace1, Ambulatory
Monitoring, Ardsley, NY, USA), the electromyogram
(EMG) of the sternocleidomastoid activity obtained
from surface electrodes placed upon the sternoclei-
domastoid muscles. All signals were digitised and
recorded on a dedicated device, specially constructed
for this study. In addition to the above signals, the
BiPAP1output signals corresponding to inspiratory
and expiratory pressures, flow, estimated leaks and
tidal volume were also entered into the recording
device.
The cardiac enzymes (creatine kinase (CPK), gluta-
mic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), lactate dehy-
drogenase (LDH), Troponine) were also measured on
inclusion into the study. The complications of bi-level
NPPV (skin damage, gastric dilatation, vomiting) were
recorded.
Influence of placebo noninvasive positive-pressure
ventilation protocol on the work of breathing
and carbon dioxide rebreathing
WOB was assessed in five normal volunteers by
simultaneously recording the tidal volume with a
calibrated inductive plethysmograph, and transpul-
monary pressure with an oesophageal balloon posi-
tioned 40 cm from the nares. Measurements were
performed during a 1-min stable-breathing period
under three conditions: spontaneous breathing;
breathing spontaneously but with the facial mask
placed upon the face; spontaneous breathing with the
placebo NPPV device. Transpulmonary pressure was
547NIV FOR ARF
plotted against tidal volume for all recorded breaths,
and the mean WOB was calculated per litre of tidal
volume.
The CO
2
rebreathing effects of the placebo NPPV
were measured in a similar way in another group of
seven normal subjects, by recording the PET,CO
2
using
a hollow nasal sampling device (Datex CO
2
analyser).
Measurements were performed during a 1 min stable-
state period during spontaneous breathing, applica-
tion of the facial mask upon the face, and application
of placebo NPPV.
Statistical analysis
Values are presented as mean¡
SD. T-tests for paired
and unpaired samples were used to compare the
variables. When more than two samples had to be
compared, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)
was used. One-way ANOVA with repeated data was
used to compare the frequency of breathing. For
WOB and PET,CO
2
comparisons, the Wilcoxon-rank
test was used.
Results
At the time of the first interim analysis of data from
20 patients, enrolment was suspended because the
differences in the failure rate and clinical evolution
between the two groups were clear cut enough.
Patients
During the study period, y1,300 patients were
admitted to the ED for acute respiratory distress. A
total of 187 of these patients had a diagnosis of APO
or acute exacerbation of COPD. The investigators
were contacted for this study in 65 cases (37 acute
exacerbations of COPD and 28 APO). Twenty
patients (30.7%) were enrolled into the study. Of the
remaining 45 patients: seven (10.8%) required imme-
diate endotracheal intubation; eight (12.2%) had chest
pain or evidence of cardiac ischaemia; 11 (16.9 %) had
no criteria for inclusion; seven (10.8%) patients with
COPD exacerbation had hypoxaemic pneumonia;
eight (12.2%) patients were not enrolled because the
two investigators were not available; two (3%)
patients refused inclusion in the study; one (1.5%)
patient had cardiogenic pulmonary oedema secondary
to chronic renal failure, and was on chronic haemo-
dialysis; and one (1.5%) patient with COPD had
hypercapnia secondary to excessive absorption of
benzodiazepines.
In the study population (11 males), 10 patients were
assigned to each group. The mean age of the patients
was 74
¡
8.4 yrs (range 52–89 yrs). Eight patients
(40%) had APO and 12 (60%) had acute exacerbation
of COPD. No patient included in the study had signs
of acute coronary ischaemia. On the admission chest
radiograph no patient had evidence of pneumothorax
or pneumonia. The time between admission to the ED
and the decision by the ED physician to propose the
inclusion in this protocol was 55.9
¡
106 min in the
placebo group and 82.8¡
216 min in the active bi-level
NPPV group. The time needed to begin the non-
invasive ventilation after inclusion was similar in
the two groups (21¡
6.8 min in the placebo group,
24
¡
15.5 min in the active group). The baseline
characteristics of the two groups were similar. As
shown in table 1, at the time of inclusion all patients
had moderate-to-severe dyspnoea when self-assessed
and when assessed by the care team; all had pallor
and/or cyanosis, and most had sweating or agitation.
Table 2 shows that all patients were tachycardic and
tachypnoeic; all needed O
2
supplementation and all
but four were acidotic. The initial vital signs and the
blood gases of the two groups were similar.
Evolution of patients under placebo noninvasive
positive-pressure ventilation
After a mean of 29
¡
17 min of placebo NPPV plus
conventional medical treatment, all 10 patients had
experienced a clinical deterioration with persistency of
tachypnoea (initial respiratory rate 37.5¡
7.3, final
37.7
¡
3.6 (NS)) (fig. 1) and tachycardia (initial cardiac
frequency 125.8¡
20.3, final 136.8¡
21.6 (pv0.01)),
major dyspnoea and sweating, agitation in nine
patients and cyanosis in six patients. This clinical
Table 1. – Baseline characteristics of the study patients at
the time of randomisation in the emergency dept and
causes of acute respiratory failure
Characteristics Patients receiving
Bi-level NPPV Placebo
Subjects n 10 10
Age yrs 71
¡
976
¡
7
M:F 7:3 4:6
History of previous intubation 1 0
History of respiratory disease 8 5
Smoking history 8 4
Admission diagnosis
APO 3 (30) 5 (50)
COPD 7 (70) 5 (50)
Clinical conditions
Symptoms v24 h 5 7
Symptoms w24 h 5 3
Duration of dyspnoea h 22.5
¡
30 18.1
¡
13
VAS patient 8.5
¡
1.55 8.3
¡
1.71
VAS nurse 8
¡
1.15 8.1
¡
1.91
VAS investigator 7.95
¡
1.6 7.9
¡
1.91
Moderate dyspnoea 2 1
Major/severe dyspnoea 8 9
Palor/cyanosis 10 10
Sweating 9 4
Agitation 0 3
Abnormality on ECG 9 9
Abnormal radiograph 10 10
Data are presented as mean
¡
SD, n or n (%), unless otherwise
stated. APO: acute pulmonary oedema; COPD: chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease; ECG: electrocardiogram;
NPPV: noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation; VAS:
visual analog scale (0: normal breathing–10: unbearable
dyspnoea).
548 F. THYS ET AL.
deterioration was not paralleled by a worsening in
arterial blood gases, which remained unchanged. The
sternocleidomastoid EMG activity also remained
unchanged or increased during this period (fig. 2). At
this point in time, the attending physician recommended
that all 10 patients be intubated and mechanically venti-
lated (table 3).
Evolution of patients under active noninvasive positive-
pressure ventilation
After a mean of 95
¡
29 min of active NPPV and
conventional medical treatment (significantly longer
than the placebo NPPV period), the attending phys-
ician recommended that NPPV could be safely dis-
continued in all 10 patients (table 3). Active NPPV
treatment (mean positive-inspiratory pressure 17.5
¡
2.9 cmH
2
O, mean positive-expiratory pressure 7
¡
1.64 cmH
2
O) was characterised by a rapid clinical
improvement, with decreases in respiratory rate
(initial 36.8¡
11.7, final 21.6¡
10.2 (p=0.01)) (fig. 1)
and cardiac frequency (initial 122.4
¡
22.09, final
105.9¡
27.5 (p=0.02)), decreases in dyspnoea, and
improvements in acidosis and hypercapnia (all statis-
tically significant, see table 4). Upon application of
NPPV the sternocleidomastoid EMG activity rapidly
declined and remained at low levels throughout the
rest of the treatment period.
Evolution of the placebo group under active noninvasive
positive-pressure ventilation (rescue protocol)
The 10 patients failing placebo NPPV were put on
active NPPV at the time when the decision to use
intubation and mechanical ventilation by the attend-
ing physician was made. Seven of these 10 patients
experienced a rapid clinical and blood-gases improve-
ment, with decreases in respiratory rates (initial
37.7
¡
3.6, final 23.6¡
4.6 (p=0.005)) and cardiac fre-
quency (initial 136.8¡
21.6, final 103.7¡
24 (p=0.005)),
dyspnoea sensation, acidosis and hypercapnia, and
increases in Pa,O
2
(all statistically significant, see
table 4). The sternocleidomastoid EMG activity
rapidly declined and remained at low values through-
out the 63
¡
34 min of duration of the rescue protocol
(fig. 2).
Three patients failed the active NPPV rescue
treatment and were finally intubated and mechanically
ventilated (table 3). Two of these patients presented
with haemodynamic shock after institution of the
active bi-level NPPV. ECG showed abnormal left-
ventricular function (v25% ECG estimated ejection
fraction). Another patient was intubated as no signs of
improvement with active bi-level NPPV were seen. A
second chest radiograph revealed an asymmetry of the
two hemithoraces. A computed tomography scan of
the thorax showed an anterior-right pneumothorax.
Patient outcomes
No patient died in the first 24 h after admission.
Three patients died afterwards (two in the active
group and one in the placebo group). The causes of
death in the active bi-level NPPV group were end-stage
Table 2. – Baseline vital signs and arterial blood gas results of the study patients at the time of randomisation
Characteristics Patients receiving p-value
Bi-level NPPV Placebo
Subjects n 10 10
Heart rate beats?min
-1
122.4¡
22 (74–158) 122
¡
20 (95–150) NS
Respiratory rate breaths?min
-1
36.7¡
10.3 (20–52) 37.5¡
7.2 (24–47) NS
Added O
2
L?min
-1
3.8¡
3.5 (1–10) 5.7¡
2.63 (1–8) NS
Arterial pH 7.28¡
0.08 (7.1–7.39) 7.24¡
0.11 (7.08–7.43) NS
Pa,CO
2
mmHg 56.3¡
16.5 (35–93) 59.9¡
19 (45–102) NS
Pa,O
2
mmHg 78.3¡
37.2 (37–155) 64.2¡
19.7 (41–92) NS
Sa,O
2
% 87.9¡
11.3 (61–96.1) 83.5¡
12.1 (61–96.2) NS
Sp,O
2
% 89.1¡
8.3 (71–98) 79.7¡
7.2 (50–96) NS
Data are presented as mean
¡
SD (range). NS: not significant; O
2
: oxygen; Pa,CO
2
: carbon dioxide tension in arterial blood; Pa,O
2
:
Pa,O
2
: oxygen tension in arterial blood; Sa,O
2
: arterial oxygen saturation; Sp,O
2
: transcutaneous Sa,O
2
measured from a pulse
oxymeter with a finger probe; NPPV: noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation. 1 mmHg=0.133 kpA.
Time
T0
Respiratory rate breaths·min
-1
31
17
19
41
33
21
35
23
37
25
39
27
29
EndT+15minT+10minT+5min
Fig. 1. – Evolution of the respiratory rate in the two groups of
patients. "T0"refers to values at the time of inclusion. Note that
the "End"time differs for both groups (see text for details). One-
way analysis of variance with repeated data showed no significant
difference in the placebo group ($), and a significant decrease in
the active noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) group
(&)(pv0.001).
549NIV FOR ARF
cardiac failure (after 3 days) and a haemorrhagic
complication of a gastric cancer unknown at admis-
sion in a patient with COPD (after 6 days). In the
placebo group, the cause of death was end-stage
cardiac failure. This patient was one of the two
patients showing signs of cardiogenic shock upon
institution of active NPPV (rescue protocol) after
failing on placebo NPPV, and died on hospitalisation
day 15. Five patients were discharged from the ED to
the wards. Fifteen patients were admitted to the ICU
after discharge from the ED (eight in the placebo
group and seven in the active bi-level NPPV group).
Ten of these patients received further treatment with
NPPV in the ICU (three in the active and six in the
placebo groups) for an average of 20 h during the first
day in ICU. There was no difference in the ED length
of stay (active NPPV 474
¡
438 min, placebo NPPV
309
¡
184 min) or in the total hospital length of stay
(active NPPV 16
¡
13.6 days, placebo NPPV 17.6
¡
14.3
days), whereas there was a trend towards a greater
Table 3. – Main patient outcomes
Protocols Success Failure
Active bi-level NPPV 10 0
Placebo NPPV 0 10
Rescue 7 3
Failure: need of endotracheal intubation in the active
bi-level noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV)
arm, and of crossing over to active NPPV (rescue) in the
placebo arm.
a) b)
c) d)
e)
Fig. 2. – Evolution of the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) electro-
myogram (EMG) activity throughout the study period in one
patient: a) conventional medical therapy; b) end of placebo
noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV); c) initiation
of two-level NPPV; d) 1-min after bi-level NPPV; e) 11-min
after bi-level NPPV. In each plot, the following signals are
displayed from top to bottom: electrocardiogram (ECG); EMG
of the SCM activity obtained from surface electrodes placed
upon the left and right SCM muscles; and thoracic and
abdominal movements obtained with a respiratory inductive
plethysmograph. Note the prominent activity of SCM muscles
with conventional medical therapy that persists at the end of
placebo NPPV. Upon institution of the rescue protocol (active
NPPV), note the decrease in the EMG signal amplitude.
550 F. THYS ET AL.
ICU length of stay in the placebo group (active NPPV
2.7
¡
3.5 days, placebo NPPV 5.4¡
5.6 days).
Work of breathing and end-tidal carbon dioxide
The results of these experiments showed that the
placebo NPPV device resulted in no change in the
work of breathing or in PET,CO
2
, whereas the mask
applied without the placebo NPPV led to an increase
in PET,CO
2
but no change in WOB. The mean values
for WOB, expressed as WOB?L of tidal volume
-1
were
as follows: spontaneous breathing 0.186¡
0.064 Joules
(J)?L
-1
, face mask 0.192¡
0.079 J?L
-1
, placebo NPPV
0.185¡
0.072 J?L
-1
, with no significant difference
between these values as determined by the Wilcoxon
test. The respective PET,CO
2
values in kPa (mmHg)
were: spontaneous breathing 5.0¡
0.4 (37.82
¡
2.99),
face mask 4.5¡
0.4 (34.04
¡
2.92), placebo NPPV
5.0
¡
0.4 (37.96
¡
3) (pv0.03 for face mask versus
spontaneous breathing, pv0.02 for face mask versus
placebo NPPV, p=0.74 for spontaneous breathing
versus placebo NPPV, all determined by the Wilcoxon
test).
Discussion
A small group of patients with severe respiratory
failure, just before intubation and mechanical ventila-
tion, have been studied. The application of active
NPPV in the emergency department shortly after the
arrival of these patients avoided the programmed
intubation in all patients, and resulted in a rapid
improvement of the patients9condition. This improve-
ment was due to the application of ventilatory support
and not due to the conventional medical treatment
already instituted. The application of NPPV led to a
true physiopathological result, and was not explained
by a placebo effect. Placebo NPPV resulted in no
change in the patients9clinical condition, that
continued to worsen despite stabilisation of blood
gases. Institution of active NPPV after failure of the
placebo device (instead of actual intubation) led to an
improvement in most patients. Active NPPV was not
devoid of unwanted complications, but they were not
lethal in this study. The differences between active and
placebo NPPV were so great that the study was
stopped after including one-third of the planned
number of patients.
Previous studies on the usefulness of noninvasive
assisted ventilation in a number of conditions leading
to ARF have shown that this form of therapy can
result in the avoidance of endotracheal intubation,
reduction in the number of complications such as
nosocomial infections, reductions in the length of stay
of the patients in the ICU and sometimes in the
hospital, and in some studies decreases in mortality
[1–3]. In the last few years, NPPV has been applied to
patients with acute exacerbation of COPD [4–8, 19],
status asthmaticus [20, 21], community acquired
pneumonia [11], acute pulmonary oedema [9, 10, 22],
ARF after solid-organ transplantation, and ARF in
haematological malignancies or immunosuppressed
Table 4. – Arterial blood-gas evolution in the study patients
Bi-level NPPV p-value Placebo NPPV After rescue bi-level NPPV p-value
Before After Before After
Added O
2
L?min
-1
3.8
¡
3.5 (1–10) 2.5
¡
2.5 (1–8) NS 5.7¡
2.6 (1–8) 5.7
¡
3.4 (1–10) 4.9¡
3.6 (1–11) NS
Arterial pH 7.28
¡
0.08 (7.1–7.39) 7.36
¡
0.05 (7.3–7.47) 0.01 7.24¡
0.11 (7.08–7.43) 7.26
¡
0.12 (7.08–7.48) 7.35¡
0.10 (7.19–7.56) 0.002
Pa,CO
2
mmHg 56.3
¡
16.5 (35–93) 44.3
¡
12.9 (29–65) 0.01 59.9
¡
19 (45–102) 56.4
¡
19.8 (43–107) 46.5
¡
17 (29–91) v0.001
Pa,O
2
mmHg 78.3
¡
37.2 (37–155) 75
¡
24.8 (45–120) NS 64.2¡
19.7 (41–92) 63.9
¡
28 (43–129) 93
¡
31.8 (61–155) 0.02
Sa,O
2
%88
¡
11.3 (64.1–99.1) 91.6
¡
6.2 (79.6–98.2) NS 83.5¡
12.1 (60.2–96.6) 81.2
¡
14.9 (53.3–98.1) 94.9¡
3.7 (89–99.2) v0.01
Sp,O
2
% 89.1
¡
8.3 (71–98) 91.4
¡
6.4 (78–99) NS 79.7¡
17.2 (50–96) 80.2
¡
17.5 (50–96) 93.3¡
4.7 (86–98) 0.01
Data are presented as mean
¡
SD (range). NS: not significant; O
2
: oxygen; Pa,CO
2
: carbon dioxide tension in arterial blood; Pa,O
2
: oxygen tension in arterial blood; Sa,O
2
: arterial
oxygen saturation; Sp,O
2
transcutaneous Sa,O
2
measured from a pulse oxymeter with a finger probe; NPPV: noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation. Bi-level NPPV and
Placebo group n=10. 1 mmHg=0.133 kpA.
551NIV FOR ARF
patients [23–26]. There are enough data suggesting
that NPPV represents a useful added value equal to
and above that of conventional medical treatment.
However, at least one study has shown that the addi-
tion of NPPV to conventional medical treatment
resulted in no change in the outcome of the patients,
suggesting that either in less-severe patients NPPV
is not necessary and medical treatment suffices to
manage the condition, or that NPPV is a placebo
treatment without real effect [12]. The problem of
controlling for a placebo-effect treatment is pervasive,
and it has been suggested that the possibility of a
powerful placebo effect is much higher for treatment
with machines than with medical treatment, where it is
already significant [27–29]. Most studies performed to
date with NPPV were randomised but not placebo
controlled. One might suppose that placebo effects
should be small or even nonexistent in the context of
severe diseases or life threatening conditions. However
this remains to be proven, since practically no data are
available on placebo effects in severe conditions. One
could even hypothesise that NPPV, by its very cum-
bersome nature, renders sleep (and its related dete-
rioration of ventilation) almost impossible. Thus,
NPPV could act simply by avoiding the sleep-related
deterioration of hypercapnia and hypoxia. Therefore,
even through one could a priori dismiss the possibility
of placebo effects in emergency conditions there is still
the need to prove that placebo effects indeed do not
exist. The present data are the first to show that there
is no placebo effect in NPPV applied in patients with
acute severe, life threatening, respiratory failure.
No difference in outcome (intubation, mortality,
length of stay) between the two groups of patients
was found. This is exactly what was to be expected
if NPPV had no placebo effect. Indeed, it should
be remembered that all patients were considered
for intubation at the time of inclusion. None were
intubated in the active NPPV arm. In the placebo
group, the decision to intubate was not modified after
a 30-min lapse. The fact that these patients were not
intubated but submitted to the rescue (active NPPV)
protocol does not change the decision of the attending
physician: placebo NPPV had failed, and intubation
was to be applied. However, since the institution of
the rescue protocol resulted in the avoidance of actual
intubation in seven out of 10 patients, and since it
is actual intubation (and its complications) which
explain the differences in outcomes previously demon-
strated between intubation and active NPPV, it
follows that no such difference was to be expected in
this study. The total failure rate of active NPPV in the
present study was 15%, a figure in the range of the
published studies in patients with a similar degree of
severity (table 5) [7, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 30–35]. The
fact that the attending physician was not blinded to
the active or placebo nature of the treatment under
study could have influenced the results. Indeed, the
physician, knowing that no active treatment was being
applied to the patient in severe ARF, could be quick
to declare the treatment as a failure so that the active
treatment be applied as soon as possible. Had the
physician been blind to the nature of the treatment
there was the possibility that the medical treatment
Table 5. – Intubation rate, outcome, length of stay (LOS) and mean time of application of noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) in the literature
First author
[ref. no]
Study Aetiology of
ARF
Patients n PH Pa,CO
2
mmHg
Duration of NPPV application LOS ICU
days
Intubation
n
Survival
rate %
h?day
-1
h days
MEDURI [30] O Hypercapnic ARF 18 7.29 72 25 1 NA 5 94
BROCHARD [31] HM COPD 13 7.29 65 7.6 3 3d 1 85
KRAMER [7] PR ARF 16 7.27 74.3 14.4 3.8¡
1.4 NA 5 93.7
BARBE [12] PRC COPD 34 7.33 56 6 3 0 0 100
FERNANDEZ [32] O COPD 12 7.19 92 8
¡
4 NA 7.6
¡
1.7 3 93
LIN [10] PR APO 50 7.40 32.9 6 NA 4
¡
3892
MEHTA [13] PRC APO 14 7.25 56 7.1
¡
4.7 NA 2.3
¡
3.7 1 93
WYSOCKI [33] PRC COPD 21 7.39 44 7.6
¡
11.8 1.5¡
117
¡
19 13 67
POPONICK [34] O ARF 58 7.26 75.3 0.5 NA 4.2 13 96.5
CELIKEL [15] PRC Hypercapnic ARF 15 7.28 67 26.7
¡
16.1 NA 11.7 1 100
WOOD [16] PRC ARF 16 7.35 56.5 NA 5.8
¡
5.5 7 75
PLANT [19] PRC COPD 118 7.32 61.7 8 3 NA 18 89.8
ANTONELLI [35] PRC ARF 32 7.45 38 NA 9
¡
7 10 71.8
THYS PRPC COPD and APO 10 7.28 57 1.59
¡
0.48 1 2.7
¡
3.5 0 80
THYS placebo PRPC COPD and APO 10 7.24 61 0.48
¡
0.28 1 5.4
¡
5.6 3 90
O: open study; HM: historical matched; PR: prospective randomised; PRC: prospective randomised controlled; PRPC: prospective randomised placebo-controlled; ARF:
acute respiratory failure; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; APO: acute pulmonary oedema; NA: not available; ICU: intensive care unit. Previous studies:
patients with active NPPV. Present study: patients with active and placebo NPPV. 1 mmHg=0.133 kpA.
552 F. THYS ET AL.
may have been given for a longer period and would
have eventually relieved the patient. The authors
believe that this caveat, due to the single-blinded type
of study performed (it would have been quite difficult
to conceal the mask and connector from the attending
physician) should not be considered as a major weak-
ness. Indeed, the speed of clinical improvement in the
active group was such that even if the physician had
been blinded to the treatment, he could not have been
blinded to the respiratory rate (fig. 1).
One might be surprised by the 100% failure rate of
the sham NPPV group of patients. Indeed, in the pub-
lished controlled studies, some patients did improve
under medical therapy [5, 7, 12]. However, it should
be recalled that the patients were included in the study
only after a period of medical treatment had been
administered, and the patient had failed to improve,
so that intubation was already considered at inclusion.
All patients in the placebo group showed a rapid
clinical deterioration. This was not due to the appli-
cation of a placebo NPPV. Indeed, it had been verified
experimentally in normal subjects that the placebo
device had no detrimental effect on WOB and did not
favour hypercapnia through its added dead space.
This was also confirmed by the absence of deteriora-
tion in blood gases despite the clinical worsening, and
by the absence of untoward haemodynamic effects,
that were rapidly apparent with active NPPV in two
of the patients. One further patient, who was in the
placebo-treatment group and was also included in
the rescue-active treatment group after failure of the
placebo protocol, was found to have a pneumothorax.
It is not certain whether the pneumothorax was
already present but not visible on the conventional
chest radiograph before instituting NPPV, or whether
it was a complication of the treatment. This patient
had to be intubated and mechanically ventilated, but
survived the acute disease and left the hospital after 15
days. Thus, the three patients needing intubation
failed NPPV for clear medical reasons and not due to
a delay in medical attention explained by the experi-
mental protocol. In fact, the safety of the patients was
a primary concern, and the attending physician was
present throughout the whole protocol in all patients.
Other frequently described complications (skin dam-
age, gastric dilatation) were not seen in this study,
perhaps because of the short time of NPPV treatment.
This could be related to the very early nature of
noninvasive ventilation, as suggested by CELIKEL
et al. [15], although this remains to be satisfactorily
proven.
When the study was initiated, the need for inclu-
sion was evaluated at 60 patients. The significant
difference between the two groups led to the decision
to interrupt the study after the inclusion of 20
patients. Due to the small number of patients at
study interruption, it was difficult to draw statistically
valid conclusions when analysing the patients by
diagnostic category, i.e. COPD on the one hand and
APO on the other hand. Nevertheless, the general
picture of failure of placebo NPPV and success of the
active treatment was true in both groups of patients
(table 6).
Although it was not the main outcome of interest in
this study, it was found that the EMG signal of the
sternocleidomastoid muscle was extremely helpful to
rapidly follow the evolution of the patients: in all cases
of NPPV success, a rapid and clear-cut decrease in
EMG activity was observed, whereas there was no
such decrease in patients with placebo NPPV or in
patients with failure on active NPPV. The EMG signal
can be obtained easily at the bedside, it is noninvasive,
and might represent a useful contribution in monitor-
ing patients under NPPV. POPONICK et al. [34] had
suggested that patients not improving after 30 min of
NPPV needed endotracheal intubation. Interestingly,
this was the exact average time of application of
placebo NPPV in the present study.
Table 6. – Arterial blood-gas evolution in the study patients by pathology
Placebo group Bi-level NPPV group
Before After p-value Before After p-value
APO
Added O
2
L?min
-1
7.4
¡
0.89 (6–8) 8.2
¡
1.48 (6–10) NS 6.6
¡
5.77 (1–10) 5.6
¡
2.08 (4–8) NA
Arterial pH 7.24
¡
0.15 (7.08–7.43) 7.28
¡
0.16 (7.08–7.48) NS 7.25
¡
0.1 (7.1–7.36) 7.32
¡
0.02 (7.3–7.35) NA
Pa,CO
2
mmHg 51
¡
8.3 (45–65) 48.6
¡
5.7 (41–56) NS 50
¡
7.5 (45–61) 37
¡
6.9(29–47) NA
Pa,O
2
mmHg 62
¡
18.6 (43–89) 54
¡
9.4 (43–63) NS 89
¡
44 (37–155) 89
¡
20 (60–120) NA
Sa,O
2
% 83.6
¡
10.9 (67.6–96.6) 81
¡
11.2 (67.6–91.7) NS 84.4
¡
18.1 (64.1–99.1) 94.4
¡
5.1 (88.6–98.2) NA
Sp,O
2
% 75.4
¡
20.1 (50–96) 77.2
¡
17.8 (61–96) NS 90.6
¡
8.73 (81–98) 91.6
¡
11.8 (78–99) NA
COPD
Added O
2
L?min
-1
4
¡
2.74 (1–8) 3.2
¡
2.9 (1–8) NS 2.6
¡
1.3 (1–3.5) 1.1
¡
0.9 (0–2) NS
Arterial pH 7.24
¡
0.09 (7.13–7.32) 7.24
¡
0.05 (7.17–7.32) NS 7.30
¡
0.05 (7.22–7.39) 7.38
¡
0.05 (7.3–7.47) 0.002
Pa,CO
2
mmHg 68.8
¡
23.5 (46–102) 64
¡
26.5 (40–107) NS 59.1
¡
18.5 (35–9) 48
¡
13.4 (32–65) 0.03
Pa,O
2
mmHg 66.2
¡
22.7 (41–92) 73.6
¡
38 (35–129) NS 73.4
¡
28 (41–127) 68.7
¡
21.8 (45–102) NS
Sa,O
2
% 83.5
¡
14.5 (60.2–96.4) 81.4
¡
19.4 (53.3–98.1) NS 89.5
¡
8.5 (72.1–98.3) 90.4
¡
6.6 (79.6–97.3) NS
Sp,O
2
%84
¡
14.7 (58–92) 83.2
¡
18.7 (50–94) NS 88.4
¡
8.8 (71–97) 91.3
¡
3.8 (87–97) NS
Data are presented as mean
¡
SD (range). NS: not significant; NA: not applicable; APO: acute pulmonary oedema; COPD:
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; O
2
: oxygen; Pa,CO
2
: carbon dioxide tension in arterial blood; Pa,O
2
: oxygen tension in
arterial blood; Sa,O
2
: arterial oxygen saturation; Sp,O
2
: transcutaneous Sa,O
2
measured from a pulse oxymeter with a finger
probe. APO: placebo group n=5; bi-level NPPV group n=3; COPD: placebo group n=5; bi-level NPPV group
n=7. 1 mmHg=0.133 kpA.
553
NIV FOR ARF
Conclusion
To conclude, this prospective, randomised placebo-
controlled study is the first to compare, beyond-standard
medical therapy, noninvasive positive-pressure venti-
lation with a similar placebo device. Early application
of bi-level noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation to
patients with acute respiratory failure due to acute
exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary dis-
ease or acute pulmonary oedema leads to a rapid
improvement in clinical status and blood gases, that
differs substantially from the evolution of similar
patients treated with conventional medical therapy
and a placebo noninvasive positive-pressure ventila-
tion device.
Acknowledgements. The authors would like
to thank C. Veriter, F. Verschuren, O. Dozin,
J-B. Michotte, M.P. Matte for their help in
collecting the data. The authors would also
like to thank A. El Gariani, A. Elamly,
P. Janssens, E. Marion, P. Meert, the nursing
staff of the emergency department, R. Kessler,
P-F. Laterre, W. D9Hoore, M. Blondiau,
E. Choppin, I. Coca, C. Decnud, P. Deprez,
S. Deroock, G. Deschietere, M. Schiffers,
A. Hendricks, C. Lacroix, S. Redant and
N. Stroobant for their continuous support
and help during this study. The main author
thanks A. Piron for his perpetual support.
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NIV FOR ARF
