Ss. Kun et al., Home ventilator low-pressure alarms fail to detect accidental decannulation with pediatric tracheostomy tubes, CHEST, 119(2), 2001, pp. 562-564
Citations number
3
Categorie Soggetti
Cardiovascular & Respiratory Systems","Cardiovascular & Hematology Research
Background: Positive-pressure ventilators are equipped with low-inspiratory
-pressure alar ms to protect patients from hypoventilation. Small uncuffed
tracheostomy tubes have a high resistance, and may not trigger these alarms
during decannulation.
Study objective: To determine whether ventilator low-inspiratory-pressure a
larms are effective in detecting tracheostomy decannulation.
Design: We connected tracheostomy tubes of varying inner diameters (3.0 to
6.0 mm) to a home ventilator and simulated decannulation using lon (tidal v
olume [VT], 600 mL; peak inspiratory pressure [PIP], 25 cm H2O), medium (VT
, 800 mL; PIP, 30 cm H2O), and high (VT, 1,000 mL; PIP, 35 cm H2O) ventilat
or settings.
Results: When the ventilator low-inspiratory-pressure alarm was set at 4 cm
H2O below the desired PIP, it failed to alarm for simulated decannulation
of tracheostomy tubes < 4.5 mm on low and medium settings, and < 4.0 mm on
high settings. When the ventilator low-inspiratory-pressure alarm was set a
t 10 cm H2O below the desired PIP, it failed to alarm with tracheostomy tub
es < 6.0 mm.
Conclusion: We conclude that ventilator low-inspiratory-pressure alarms fai
l to alarm during simulated decannulation with small tracheostomy tubes com
monly used in children. We speculate that low-inspiratory-pressure alarms s
et at 4 cm H2O below the desired PIP will detect more decannulation than wh
en set at 10 cm H2O below the desired PIP.