EDITORIAL
Home oxygen services
All change for home oxygen services in England and Wales
1 Royal Free and University College Medical School, University College London, UK
2 University Hospital Aintree, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor J A Wedzicha
Royal Free and University College Medical School, London NW3 2PF, UK; j.a.wedzicha@medsch.ucl.ac.uk
Changes to the home oxygen service effective from February 2006
Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; home oxygen service
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Although it was clearly rational to increase the arterial oxygen tension of patients with chronic hypoxaemia, it was not until the publication of two key randomised controlled trials on the effects of long term oxygen therapy (LTOT) in the early 1980s1,2 that home oxygen services were developed in many countries where they now form an integral part of the management of chronic respiratory disability. Although these trials addressed the role of oxygen in prolonging life for patients with COPD, three main forms of home oxygen services have developed with rather different goals:
- LTOT is prescribed for patients with chronic hypoxaemia (PaO2
7.3 kPa (55 mm Hg)) for continuous use at home and is one of the few interventions to date that has been shown to reduce mortality in patients with COPD.
- Ambulatory oxygen therapy refers to the provision of oxygen therapy with a portable device during
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