Impact of nocturnal non invasive mechanical ventilation in transcutaneous CO2 values in patients with chronic respiratory failure

Introduction: Noninvasive Ventilation (NIV) is an efficient therapeutic procedure for the treatment of alveolar hypoventilation in patients with chronic respiratory failure (CRF). Transcutaneous CO2 (TcCO2) is a simple measurement and a noninvasive monitoring of ventilatory efficiency. Objective: Evaluate TcCO2 values in patients with chronic respiratory failure before and after NIV setting in the laboratory and observe these values at 1 month of follow up. Methods: Prospective observational study that included patients with CRF and specific criteria for NIV at home. All patients were adapted to NIV as outpatients in the pulmonology department laboratory with TcCO2 monitoring during a period of 2 hours in which ventilatory settings were aimed at the maximal reduction of TcCO2. The TcCO2 values were then further evaluated within 1 month of follow-up. Results: 87 CRF patients with a mean age of 70.1 ± 9.9 years were included. TcCO2 values were significantly reduced after NIV adaptation in the laboratory in comparison with baseline (52.1 ± 7.4 mmHg vs 43.9 ± 8.2 mmHg - p Conclusions: TcCO2 is a useful measurement for NIV setting in CRF patients. Despite the great heterogeneity of diagnosis causing CRF, this study confirms that in this patient population NIV has a significant impact on decreasing PtCO2 values and these values can stabilize after 1 month if there is good adherence to therapy.