Noninvasive ventilation for acute respiratory failure

Noninvasive ventilation refers to any form of ventilatory support applied without the use of an endotracheal tube. It offers the potential to provide primary treatment for acute respiratory failure while avoiding complications associated with mechanical ventilation with endotracheal intubation. Noninvasive ventilation has been most commonly studied in hypercapnic respiratory failure. A review of randomized, controlled studies shows mixed results and methodologic limitations affect the interpretation of current evidence. Patient selection is clearly the most important issue in considering noninvasive ventilation for acute respiratory failure. Unfortunately, patients who benefit from noninvasive ventilation represent only a minority of the total group with any one disease, and thus it is difficult to make broad conclusions concerning applicability of this treatment modality. Future studies are needed to focus on determining the specific patient populations who will benefit the most, evaluating the optimal ventilatory mode and mask for providing noninvasive ventilation, and clarifying its impact on clinical outcomes.