Jon Torgny Wilcke

Long-term non-invasive ventilation reduces readmissions in COPD patients with two or more episodes of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure.

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients who have had an episode of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF) have a large 1-year risk of death or readmission. Acute non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has been shown to be an effective treatment of AHRF; and long-term NIV (LTNIV) has been shown to be an effective treatment of chronic respiratory failure in stable hypercapnic COPD. We investigated the effects of LTNIV in a group of patients with severe, unstable COPD: frequent admissions and multiple previous episodes of AHRF treated with NIV. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of 20 COPD patients treated with LTNIV after two or more episodes of AHRF during 1 year. Results The mean number of AHRF episodes decreased from 2.44 in the year prior to LTNIV initiation to 0.44 in the year following (p<0.0001). The median number of admissions decreased from 5.19 to 1.88 (p=0.0092). Four patients (20%) died in 1 year. LTNIV tended to reduce arterial CO2. No changes were found in lung function. Conclusions LTNIV seems effective in reducing recurrent AHRF and readmissions in a highly select group of patients with severe, unstable COPD and frequent AHRF.

Home Non Invasive Ventilation (NIV) treatment for COPD patients with a history of NIV-treated exacerbation; a randomized, controlled, multi-center study

BackgroundIn chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the prognosis for patients who have survived an episode of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure due to an exacerbation is poor. Despite being shown to improve survival and quality-of-life in stable patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure, long-term noninvasive ventilation is controversial in unstable patients with frequent exacerbations, complicated by acute hypercapnic respiratory failure. In an uncontrolled group of patients with previous episodes of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure, treated with noninvasive ventilation, we have been able to reduce mortality and the number of repeat respiratory failure and readmissions by continuing the acute noninvasive ventilatory therapy as a long-term therapy.MethodsMulti-center open label randomized controlled trial of 150 patients having survived an admission with noninvasive ventilatory treatment of acute hypercapnic respiratory failure due chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The included patients are randomized to usual care or to continuing the acute noninvasive ventilation as a long-term therapy, both with a one-year follow-up period. The primary endpoint is time to death or repeat acute hypercapnic respiratory failure; secondary endpoints are one-year mortality, number of readmissions and repeat acute hypercapnic respiratory failure, exacerbations, dyspnea, quality of life, sleep quality, lung function, and arterial gases.DiscussionThough previous studies of long-term noninvasive ventilation have shown conflicting results, we believe the treatment can reduce mortality and readmissions when applied in patients with previous need of acute ventilatory support, regardless of persistent hypercapnia.Trial registrationclinicaltrials.org: NCT01513655 16-Jan-2012.

COPD: Mortality and Readmissions in Relation to Number of Admissions with Noninvasive Ventilation

ABSTRACT In severe COPD, patients having survived acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF) treated with noninvasive ventilation (NIV) have a high mortality and risk of readmissions. The aim was to analyze the prognosis for patients with COPD having survived AHRF and to assess whether previous admissions with NIV predict new ones.We conducted a retrospective follow-up analysis of 201 patients two years after NIV treatment of AHRF. Comparison of time-to-event in patients previously treated with NIV versus patients with no previous NIV treatment. We found a one-year mortality of 33.8% and high risks of: readmission (53.2%), any event (67.7%), and life-threatening events (49.8%). Patients with previous NIV treatments had an increased hazard ratio for life-threatening events: 1.60, p = 0.023 despite having lower in-hospital mortality than patients with no previous NIV treatment (18.9% vs. 33.1%, p = 0.043). We found that having survived one episode of AHRF considerably worsened the prognosis for the affected patients.The prognosis for patients having survived AHRF with NIV treatment is poor: the prognosis worsens with additional episodes of AHRF. Future research and treatment should focus on patients with repeated episodes of AHRF.