Publications by authors named "Bladder G"

Introduction: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) commonly experience severe dyspnea after discontinuation of nocturnal noninvasive ventilation (NIV), known as deventilation syndrome (DVS), which negatively affects quality of life. Despite various hypotheses, the precise mechanisms of DVS remain unknown.

Methods: An observational pilot study was performed monitoring 16 stable COPD patients before, during, and after an afternoon nap on NIV.

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Initiation of home non-invasive ventilation (NIV) requires careful consideration of the patient's condition, motivation, expectations, wishes, and social circumstances. The decision to start NIV depends on a combination of factors including patient symptoms and objective evidence of nocturnal hypoventilation. A solid understanding of the underlying pathophysiology is key to a systematic and well-balanced clinical approach to titrating NIV.

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Introduction: Chronic non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has become evidence-based care for stable hypercapnic COPD patients. While the number of patients increases, home initiation of NIV would greatly alleviate the healthcare burden. We hypothesise that home initiation of NIV with the use of telemedicine in stable hypercapnic COPD is non-inferior to in-hospital NIV initiation.

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Purpose: It has recently been shown that chronic noninvasive ventilation (NIV) improves a number of outcomes including survival, in patients with stable hypercapnic COPD. However, the mechanisms responsible for these improved outcomes are still unknown. The aim of the present study was to identify parameters associated with: 1) an improved arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO) and 2) survival, in a cohort of hypercapnic COPD patients treated with chronic NIV.

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Introduction: High-intensity noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has been shown to improve outcomes in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. However, there is insufficient knowledge about whether with this more controlled ventilatory mode optimal respiratory muscle unloading is provided without an increase in patient-ventilator asynchrony (PVA).

Patients And Methods: Ten chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients on home mechanical ventilation were included.

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Introduction: The effectiveness of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIV) in COPD patients with prolonged hypercapnia after ventilatory support for acute respiratory failure (ARF) remains unclear. We investigated if nocturnal NIV in these patients prolongs the time to readmission for respiratory causes or death (primary endpoint) in the following 12 months.

Methods: 201 COPD patients admitted to hospital with ARF and prolonged hypercapnia >48 h after termination of ventilatory support were randomised to NIV or standard treatment.

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Objective: There are limited data on health-related quality of life (HRQL) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure during an admission requiring ventilatory support. The aim was to assess and compare the reliability and validity of the Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ), Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ), Maugeri Respiratory Failure-28 (MRF-28) Questionnaire, and Severe Respiratory Insufficiency (SRI) Questionnaire in patients with very severe COPD.

Study Design And Setting: One hundred eighty hospitalized patients filled out the CCQ, CRQ, MRF-28, SRI, Groningen Activity Restriction Scale (GARS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (MRC).

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Background: The use of noninvasive intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure remains controversial as long-term data are almost lacking. The aim was to compare the outcome of 2-year home-based nocturnal NIPPV in addition to rehabilitation (NIPPV + PR) with rehabilitation alone (PR) in COPD patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure.

Methods: Sixty-six patients could be analyzed for the two-year home-based follow-up period.

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Background: Long-term non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) might improve the outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with chronic respiratory failure. A study was undertaken to investigate whether nocturnal NIPPV in addition to pulmonary rehabilitation improves health-related quality of life, functional status and gas exchange compared with pulmonary rehabilitation alone in patients with COPD with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure.

Methods: 72 patients with COPD were randomly assigned to nocturnal NIPPV in addition to rehabilitation (n = 37) or rehabilitation alone (n = 35).

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The Maugeri Respiratory Failure (MRF-28) and Severe Respiratory Insufficiency (SRI) questionnaires were recently developed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with chronic respiratory failure, although not exclusively in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the MRF-28 and SRI are reliable and valid HRQoL questionnaires in COPD patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure (CHRF). In total, 72 COPD patients with CHRF underwent pulmonary function and exercise testing, and completed the MRF-28, the SRI, the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Groningen Activity and Restriction Scale and two dyspnoea indexes.

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Objective: To find out which patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy are eligible for starting home mechanical ventilation and what the survival rate is.

Design: Retrospective.

Method: In 48 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who were treated with home ventilation from 1987, the results were assessed in the follow-up visit in February 2005.

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Unlabelled: We performed a retrospective analysis to the effects of negative pressure ventilation (NPV), tracheal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (TIPPV), and nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV, volume or pressure-controlled ventilatory mode), in 114 patients with restrictive ventilatory disorders instituted in our hospital from 1956 until 2005. The patients were assigned on "ad hoc" basis to NPV, TIPPV, or NIPPV. All patients were subdivided in an idiopathic kyphoscoliosis group (IK, n=64), a post-poliomyelitis syndrome group (PP, n=30), or a miscellaneous group (M, n=20).

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Three patients, a man aged 71 and two women aged 47 and 54, were admitted for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiac failure. All three had thoracic deformities, owing to earlier pneumonectomy with thoracoplasty because of pulmonary tuberculosis, congenital kyphoscoliosis, and infant poliomyelitis respectively. Such patients are at risk of developing chronic respiratory insufficiency because of chronic alveolar hypoventilation: muscle power decreasing with age gradually fails to meet the increased respiratory labour.

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