Improved survival in cancer patients requiring mechanical ventilatory support: Impact of noninvasive mechanical ventilatory support

Objective: When a cancer patient becomes critically ill, mechanical Ventila tion (MV) is often considered futile. However, recent studies have found th at outcomes of critically ill cancer patients have been improving over the years and that classic predictors of high mortality have lost their relevan ce. Design: We retrospectively determined outcomes and predictors of 30-day mor tality in 237 mechanically-ventilated cancer patients admitted to the inten sive care unit (ICU). Patients: The 132 (55.7%) patients who were admitted between 1990 and 1995 were compared with 105 (44.3%) patients who were admitted between 1996 and 1998. The malignancy was leukemia/lymphoma in 119 (50.3%) patients, myeloma in 50 (21%), and a solid tumor in 68 (28.7%). Forty-two (17.7%) patients h ad bone marrow transplantation, and 91 (38.4%) were neutropenic. Median Sim plified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II) was 58 (range, 40-75). Reasons for MV were acute hypoxemic respiratory failure in 148 (62.5%) patients, co ma in 54 (22.8%), and cardiogenic pulmonary edema in 35 (14.7%). Convention al MV was used first in 189 (79.8%) patients, and noninvasive MV (NIMV) was used in 48 (20.2%). Overall mortality rate was 72.5% (172 deaths). Results: Logistic regression identified three variables associated with mor tality: ICU admission between 1996 and 1998 (odds ratio [OR], 0.24; 95% con fidence interval [Ct], 0.12-0.50) and the use of NIMV (OR, 0.34; 95% Gf, 0. 16-0.73) were protective, and the SAPS II was aggravating (68, 1.04 per poi nt; 95% GI, 1.02-1.06). To better define the impact of NIMV, we performed a pairwise-matched exposed-unexposed analysis. Forty-eight patients who did and 48 who did not receive NIMV as the first ventilation method were matche d for SAPS II, type of malignancy, and period of ICU admission. Crude ICU m ortality rates from exposed patients and controls were 43.7% and 70.8%, res pectively. NIMV remained protective from mortality after adjustment for mat ching variables (OR, 0.31; 95% GI, 0.12-0.82). Conclusion: Our results confirm that mortality has improved over the past d ecade in critically ill cancer patients, even those who require MV, and sug gest that this may be, in part, because of a protective effect of NIMV.