Article Text
PostScript
Correspondence
Acidosis, non-invasive ventilation and mortality in hospitalised COPD exacerbations
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The national chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) audit confirms the high mortality associated with acute hypercapnic respiratory failure (AHRF) in COPD, particularly in severely acidotic patients.1 The authors highlight the observations that significant numbers of patients eligible for non-invasive ventilation (NIV) do not receive it and that NIV is almost universally the ceiling of care with only 5% of acidotic patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Comparisons are made with the outcomes of clinical trials of NIV, and there is an implication …
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