COVID-19 pandemic was a global problem that affected the whole societies in many life aspects specially the health care systems around the world. Among the numerous complications that can be caused by the virus, acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) is the most critical one. Due to the rapid spread of the infection that occurred in clusters, the number of patients requiring oxygen therapy was faced by a shortage of ICU beds and ventilators. Also, invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) was associated with high mortality rate and increased risk of ventilator associated complications. So, different non-invasive ventilation (NIV) techniques such as high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) were applied for managing the patients to avoid endotracheal intubation.
AIM OF THE WORK:
The aim of this work was to compare between HFNC versus CPAP in prevention of endotracheal intubation in COVID-19 patients.
PATIENTS AND METHODSl
Patients
This study was carried out on forty patients who were admitted to Critical Care Department of Alexandria University Hospitals with AHRF due to COVID-19 infection. Our patients were older than 18 years with hypoxic index from 100 to 150 and arterial oxygen saturation deteriorating or non-improving on conventional oxygen therapy (COT) with no other medical condition that can cause hypoxia such as COPD, heart failure, ESRD and pregnancy.