Noninvasive ventilation for decompensation of chronic respiratory failure

Mask delivery: Noninvasive ventilation designates ventilation methods which do not use the endotracheal route. Noninvasive ventilation is generally de livered via a facial mask (generally for patients with acute respiratory fa ilure) or a nasal mask (widely used for home-delivery systems). I Indications: Following work conducted by Rideau in the eighties who made th e first ventilation trials in patients with myopathy, Meduri then Brochard focused interest on noninvasive ventilation for the management of acute epi sodes in patients with chronic respiratory failure. Following a simple algo rithm, first intention noninvasive ventilation can be used in case of acute decompensation of chronic respiratory failure when the degree of urgency a nd the patient's status do not require immediate endotracheal ventilation. A weaning tool: In addition to this well recognized indication, recent tria ls have demonstrated the usefulness of noninvasive ventilation as a weaning tool for patients on conventional endotracheal ventilation.