In
patients with acute exacerbation of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
noninvasive ventilation may be used in an attempt to avoid
endotracheal intubation and
complications, associated with
mechanical ventilation. We conducted a prospective, randomized study comparing
noninvasive ventilation delivered through a
face mask with standard
treatment in
patients admitted to ICU. A total of 23
patients were recruited from a large group of 63
patients with
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admitted to
Critical Care Department. A total of 12
patients were randomly assigned to
noninvasive ventilation [group I] and 11 to standard
treatment [group 11]. The two groups had
similar demographic characteristics with [mean age 51, 8 +/- 10 vs. 58.7 +/- 8.4, p=0.082 and weight 74.8 +/- 13.8 vs. 74.9 +/- 8.9, p 0.97] and clinical characteristics on admission to the
hospital. The use of
noninvasive ventilation significantly improved some of the final arterial
blood gases and
oxygenation parameters in successful cases. In selected cases with acute exacerbation of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
noninvasive ventilation can reduce the need for
endotracheal intubation and can improve the
hypoventilation associated with the
disease