Active clinical trials for "Hypoventilation"

The prevalence of High Altitude Polycythemia (or Chronic Mountain Sickness) is between 8 and 15% in the high altitude regions of South America. There is no pharmacological treatment available. After a first preliminary study in 2003 demonstrating the beneficial effects of acetazolamide in reducing hematocrit in these patients, after 3 weeks of treatment, we want to confirm this effect and implement a treatment protocol of 3 month-duration.

To evaluate a novel advanced physiological monitoring system to improve nocturnal non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in Neuromuscular disease (NMD), Chest wall disease (CWD), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome (OHS) patients. By enhancing sleep comfort, adherence to ventilation will increase which, in turn, will improve ventilatory failure, quality of life and reduce length of admission during initiation of therapy. We aim to incorporate this technology into routine clinical practice.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of using of the Average Volume Assured Pressure Support (AVAPS-AE) mode versus Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and bilevel pressure support ventilation (PSV) modes of ventilation in patients diagnosed with Obesity Hypoventilation syndrome (OHS). The investigators believe the use of the AVAPS-AE mode of ventilation after 6 weeks will yield daytime gas exchange values which are equivalent or no worse when compared to using CPAP and bilevel PSV modes of ventilation in the OHS population.

The purpose of this study is to analyze whether the treatment of metabolic alkalosis with acetazolamide in intubated patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or with obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) reduces the length of mechanical ventilation (MV).

The Hypercapnia Telemedicine Outreach Program (E-TOUCH Study) aims to utilize telemedicine technology, as well as emergency medical services (EMS) home visits to address the problem with poor follow-up and compliance among Einstein's hypercapnic patients. The hypothesis is that reaching out to the subjects' homes will allow more consistent healthcare delivery, increase healthcare efficiency and compliance with therapy, and overall decrease acute decompensated states / hypercapnic respiratory failure, decreasing ED visits and hospitalization.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of several manual therapy techniques on autonomic nervous system and to compare it with other groups in the study such as deep-slow breathing group and the control group. The measurements will take place right before and after the intervention to evaluate the effects of one single intervention.

The aim of the study is to compare the efficacy and tolerance of autotitrating non-invasive ventilation (NIV) versus standard NIV in patients admitted to hospital with acute exacerbation of chronic respiratory failure. The investigators hypothesise that autotitrating NIV will ventilate patients with acute exacerbations of chronic respiratory failure as effectively as standard NIV.

The estimation of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2) in the arterial blood is used to judge the adequacy of ventilation during spontaneous and controlled ventilation. Although the gold standard for monitoring PCO2 remains arterial blood gas sampling, this requires an invasive procedure and provides only an intermittent estimate of what is frequently a continuously changing value. The solution to this problem has been the development and validation of accurate noninvasive monitoring techniques which provide a continuous intraoperative estimate of PCO2.The most commonly used noninvasive technique to monitor PCO2 is measurement of the end tidal CO2 (PECO2) . However, sampling errors and patient -related issues such as ventilation-perfusion mismatch, patient positioning or decreases in pulmonary blood flow may influence the accuracy of PECO2 monitoring (1-3). Nasal capnography has been proved to be an accurate monitor during the post-operative period (4) but its ability to accurately detect hypoventilation associated with deep sedation has not been studied. According to the American Society of Anesthesiologist standards for basic monitoring, continuous capnography is required for all patients undergoing general anesthesia but it is optional for MAC/sedation cases. The need for CO2 monitoring has been studied by other medical specialties that use procedural sedation, including gastroenterology (12) and emergency medicine (13, 14) and many specialties now recommend capnography as a standard monitor. Patients receiving supplemental oxygen may experience significant persistent hypoventilation leading to progressive hypercarbia and acidosis which may go undetected for a significant time interval since the routinely monitored SpO2 may be maintained within normal range. A recent study has shown that despite the fact that end tidal CO2 is reliable in detecting apnea , increasing oxygen flow rates decrease the amplitude of measured CO2, probably via dilution, making the quantitative value less reliable as an assessment of adequacy of ventilation (15). Furthermore, during hypoventilation there is reduced alveolar ventilation and the end tidal CO2 is not a true reflection of arterial CO2. Transcutaneous measurement of PCO2(PtcCO2) is a non-invasive method of measuring PCO2 that has been used much less frequently due to technical difficulties with earlier transcutaneous electrodes. Preliminary studies of the reliability of the current PtcCO2 electrodes (TOSCA, Linde Medical Sensors, and Basel, Switzerland) have shown good correlation of arterial and transcutaneous measurements in both adult volunteers and anesthetized subjects (5). PtcCO2 is measured with a sensor attached by a low pressure clip to an earlobe. The sensor probe heats the earlobe to 42 degrees Celsius to enhance blood flow. The current sensors have also been evaluated in anesthetized children (7, 8), anesthetized adults (9, 10) and critically ill neonates (11) and all these studies revealed a good correlation between PtCO2 and PaCO2.

This study aims to compare, in subjects with obesity-hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) treated by long-term non-invasive ventilation (NIV), resting energy expenditure (REE) in spontaneous breathing and under NIV. The hypothesise of this study is that REE will be lower under NIV than under spontaneous breathing.

Procedures performed under sedation have the same severity in regards to morbidity and mortality as procedures performed under general anesthesia1. The demand for anesthesia care outside the operating room has increased tremendously and it poses, according to a closed claim analysis, major risks to patients . Both closed claim analysis identified respiratory depression due to oversedation as the main risk to patients undergoing procedures under sedation. The major problem is that hypoventilation is only detected at very late stages in patients receiving supplemental oxygen. Besides the respiratory effects of hypoventilation, hypercapnia can also lead to hypertension, tachycardia, cardiac arrhythmias and seizures. The incidence of anesthetized patients with obstructive sleep apnea has increased substantially over the last years along with the current national obesity epidemic. These patients are at increased risk of hypoventilation when exposed to anesthetic drugs. The context of the massive increase in procedural sedation and the extremely high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea poses major respiratory risks to patients and it may, in a near future, increase malpractice claims to anesthesiologists. The development of safer anesthesia regimen for sedation are, therefore, needed. The establishment of safer anesthetics regimen for sedation is in direct relationship with the anesthesia patient safety foundation priorities. It addresses peri-anesthetic safety problems for healthy patient's. It can also be broadly applicable and easily implemented into daily clinical care. Ketamine has an established effect on analgesia but the effects of ketamine on ventilation have not been clearly defined. The lack of validated and sensitive instruments to evaluate the effects of ketamine on ventilation is an important reason for the conflicting results.The investigators have demonstrated that the transcutaneous carbon dioxide monitor is accurate in detecting hypoventilation in patients undergoing deep sedation. Animal data suggest that when added to propofol in a sedation regimen, ketamine decreased hypoventilation when compared to propofol alone. It is unknown if ketamine added to a commonly used sedative agent (propofol) can decrease the incidence and severity of hypoventilation in patients undergoing deep sedation. It is also unknown if the effect of ketamine on ventilation are different in patients with and without obstructive sleep apnea. The investigators hypothesized that patients receiving ketamine and propofol will develop less intraoperative hypoventilation than patients receiving propofol alone. The investigators also hypothesized that this effect will be even greater in patients with obstructive sleep apnea than patients without obstructive sleep apnea. Significance: Respiratory depression due to oversedation was identified twice as the major factor responsible for claims related to anesthesia. The high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea combined with more complex procedures done in outpatient settings can increase physical risks to patients and liability cases to anesthesiologists. The main goal of this project is to establish the effect of ketamine in preventing respiratory depression to patients undergoing procedures under sedation. If the investigators confirm the their hypothesis , their findings can be valuable not only to anesthesiologist but also to other specialties ( Emergency medicine, gastroenterologists, cardiologists, radiologists) that frequently performed procedural sedation. The research questions is;does ketamine prevent hypoventilation during deep sedation? The hypotheses is; ketamine will prevent hypoventilation during sedation cases.