Outcomes of Patients Treated with Prehospital Noninvasive Ventilation: Observational Retrospective Multicenter Study in the Northern French Alps

Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) improves the outcome of acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (AcPE) and acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (aeCOPD) but is not recommended in pneumonia. The aim of this study was to assess the appropriateness of the use of NIV in a prehospital setting, where etiological diagnostics rely mainly on clinical examination. This observational multicenter retrospective study included all the patients treated with NIV by three mobile medical emergency teams in 2015. Prehospital diagnoses and hospital diagnoses were extracted from the medical charts. The appropriateness of NIV was determined by matching the hospital diagnosis to the current guidelines. Among the 14,067 patients screened, 172 (1.2%) were treated with NIV. The more frequent prehospital diagnoses were AcPE (n = 102, 59%), acute respiratory failure of undetermined cause (n = 46, 28%) and aeCOPD (n = 17, 10%). An accurate prehospital diagnosis was more frequent for AcPE (83/88, 94%) than for aeCOPD (14/32, 44%; p < 0.01). Only two of the 25 (8%) pneumonia cases were diagnosed during prehospital management. Prehospital NIV was inappropriate for 32 (21%) patients. Patients with inappropriate NIV had a higher rate of in-hospital intubation than patients with appropriate NIV (38% vs. 8%; p < 0.001). This high frequency of inappropriate NIV could be reduced by an improvement in the prehospital detection of aeCOPD and pneumonia.

Respiratory Management of Acute Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema: A Review

Acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (ACPE) is a common and life-threatening condition among patients with heart failure. The literature contains a large number of reviews discussing the respiratory management aspect of this entity; nonetheless, none of these studies has thoroughly probed into the respiratory management of different cardiac pathologies ending with ACPE, together with the different modes of ventilation and invasive and noninvasive ventilation in the same discussion. The present review seeks to discuss the physiologic bases of lung-heart interactions, the hemodynamic effects of positive pressure ventilation, and the results of studies on the effects of the various modes of ventilation having been used until the writing of this article. Also discussed herein are ACPE in different heart pathologies and their respective ventilator management, as well as the indications, complications, and contraindications of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation and intermittent mandatory ventilation.

Inhalotherapy in Noninvasive Ventilation

The use of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has markedly increased over the last decades, and NIV has now become an important alternative to invasive ventilation and has gained popularity particularly as treatment option for patients with obstructive sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and acute respiratory failure. The most prominent forms of NIV are noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) and the recently introduced high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy. Many patients who received NIV may also benefit from the administration of pharmaceutical aerosols, typically bronchodilators, which are best delivered without interrupting respiratory support. For example, nowadays, the use of NIV is considered the standard of care for some forms of acute respiratory failure such as COPD exacerbation and acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema. Patients with COPD exacerbation also benefit from inhaled bronchodilator therapy.

Modern Management of Hypertensive Emergencies

Hypertensive emergencies (HE) represent critical conditions in which extremely high blood pressure values are accompanied by acute hypertension-mediated organ damage. In this clinical setting, the main therapeutic goal is represented by the immediate reduction of blood pressure, in order to limit the extension or promote the regression of target organ damage. At present, HE are classified according to the condition or target organ involved, into: (1) malignant hypertension with or without thrombotic microangiopathy; (2) coronary ischemia or acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema; (3) acute stroke or hypertensive encephalopathy; (4) acute aortic dissection or aneurysm; and (5) eclampsia or severe preeclampsia/HELLP syndrome. The management of these conditions is different in relation to the complex pathophysiology involved in each of these types. This mini-review presents the main characteristics and management strategy for different forms of HE, revealing the particularities of management strategy for each of them.