Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Versus Oxygen Therapy in the Cardiac Surgical Ward: A Randomized Trial

Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is a common technique to manage patients with acute respiratory failure in the intensive care unit. However, use of NIV in general wards is less well described. The authors' aim was to demonstrate efficacy of NIV, applied in a cardiac surgery ward, in improving oxygenation in patients who developed hypoxemic acute respiratory failure after being discharged from the intensive care unit.

Randomized, open-label trial.

University hospital.

Sixty-four patients with hypoxemia (PaO₂/F_IO₂ ratio between 100 and 250) admitted to the main ward after cardiac surgery.

Patients were randomized to receive standard treatment (oxygen, early mobilization, a program of breathing exercises and diuretics) or continuous positive airway pressure in addition to standard treatment. Continuous positive airway pressure was administered 3 times a day for 2 consecutive days. Every cycle lasted 1 to 3 hours. All patients completed their 1-year follow-up. Data were analyzed according to the intention-to-treat principle.

The primary endpoint was the number of patients with PaO₂/F_IO₂<200 48 hours after randomization. Continuous positive airway pressure use was associated with a statistically significant reduction in the number of patients with PaO₂/F_IO₂<200 (4/33 [12%] v 14/31 [45%], p = 0.003). One patient in the control group died at the 30-day follow-up.

Among patients with acute respiratory failure following cardiac surgery, administration of continuous positive airway pressure in the main ward was associated with improved respiratory outcome. This was the first study that was performed in the main ward of post-surgical patients with acute respiratory failure.