Early non-invasive ventilation and high-flow nasal oxygen therapy for preventing endotracheal intubation in hypoxemic blunt chest trauma patients: the OptiTHO randomized trial.

Background: The benefit-risk ratio of prophylactic non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and high-flow nasal oxygen therapy (HFNC-O) during the early stage of blunt chest trauma remains controversial because of limited data. The main objective of this study was to compare the rate of endotracheal intubation between two NIV strategies in high-risk blunt chest trauma patients.

Methods: The OptiTHO trial was a randomized, open-label, multicenter trial over a two-year period.