Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) as an aid to rehabilitation in acute respiratory disease.

Background: Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) can increase exercise tolerance, reduce exercise induced desaturation and improve the outcome of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic respiratory disease. It is not known whether it can be applied to increase exercise capacity in patients admitted with non-hypercapnic acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD). We investigated the acceptability and feasibility of using NIV for this purpose.

Is a practice incremental shuttle walk test really necessary?

The incremental and endurance shuttle walking tests (ISWT and ESWT) are measures of exercise tolerance commonly used in pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). A practice ISWT is advocated but often omitted by PR centres. We aimed to investigate the effect of such an omission within a clinical PR service.