In the last decade, HFNC has been increasingly used as a respiratory support to reduce intubation rate and/or post-extubation failure in different patient populations. Recent clinical trials have showed improved physiologic and clinical patient outcomes.
For who are new on the topic, there is a nice scientific article written by Masaji Nishimura showing practical information and pictures on a typical HFNC system and the different devices than can be used. “High-Flow Nasal Cannula Oxygen Therapy Devices”.
You can download the pdf free here: DOI: https://doi.org/10.4187/respcare.06718
One of the current questions is which is the optimal flow rate that should be used to improve patient’s outcome. Nowadays, even if there are several scientific studies published, there is still no consensus on this topic.
We have selected a systematic review published last year by Jie Li and co-authors that includes 44 articles on the flow setting of HFNC. This review is very rich of useful information on the spontaneous flow rate of healthy individuals, patients with different diseases, and also in vitro studies data. In agreement with most of the studies, they observe that flow rate should meet or exceed the patient peak tidal inspiratory flow (PTIF). However, variability in patients’ response to different flows highlights the importance of personalization of HFNC settings to reach the best result.
Recommended Article: The effects of flow settings during high‑flow nasal cannula support for adult subjects: a systematic review
You can download the pdf free here: DOI: 10.1186/s13054-023-04361-5
Enjoy the reading.
