Noninvasive ventilation in COVID-19 associated ARDS

ABSTRACT

SARS-CoV-2 virus caused millions of admissions to the hospital and deaths due to ARDS;it was immediately clear that ARDS in COVID was different to classical ARDS. Despite invasive mechanical ventilation should be the key of ARDS treatment it’s not unusual to use noninvasive ventilation (NIV). Today, although there are several promising studies about mortality and safety, there are no guidelines or strong evidences about the use of the NIV in COVID-19 ARDS, therefore careful monitoring it’s important during the use of the NIV not to delay intubation and protective ventilation especially in patients with severe respiratory exchange deficit (PaO2/FiO2 < 200).