Treatment Response of Patients with Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure on Noninvasive Ventilation

Introduction: When arterial oxygen pressure is < 60 mmHg and arterial carbon dioxide pressure is normal or low, hypoxemic respiratory failure (type I) occurs. Acute respiratory failure patients who get noninvasive ventilation (NIV) had a much lower risk of morbidity and fatality. Materials and Methods: On 55 subjects of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) with NIV support, an observational study was performed at tertiary care hospital. All the cases were assessed clinically along with evaluation of arterial blood gas, ROX index, and chest X-ray. Patient was re-accessed clinically at the end of 24 h. Results: Failure of NIV, i.e. requirement of invasive ventilation, was observed among 12.7% of cases with AHRF. On multivariate regression analysis, we observed that low pH (odds ratio [OR] - 2.76; 1.15-3.38; P = 0.04) and ROX index (OR - 9.99; 1.14-73.4; P = 0.02) were observed to be vital sign of NIV failure in cases with AHRF. Conclusion: This study noted that NIV responded good in over 85% of AHRF cases, hence NIV is a reliable method for such patients despite their underlying cause.