Monitoring of physiologic features and treatment aspects of children on
home invasive mechanical ventilation"
Abstract
Paediatric home invasive mechanical ventilation patients are a small but
resource intensive cohort, requiring close monitoring and
multidisciplinary care. Patients are often dependent on their ventilator
for life support, with any significant complications such as equipment
failure, tracheostomy blockage, or accidental decannulation becoming
potentially life threatening, if not identified quickly. This review
discusses the indications and variations in practice worldwide, in terms
of models of care, including home care provision, choice of equipment
and monitoring. With advances in technology, optimal monitoring
strategies for home, continue to be debated: In-built ventilator alarms
are often inadequately sensitive for paediatric patients, necessitating
additional external monitoring devices to minimise risk. Pulse oximetry
has been the preferred monitoring modality at home, though in some
special circumstances such as congenital central hypoventilation
syndrome, home carbon dioxide monitoring may be important to consider.
Children should be under regular follow up at specialist respiratory
centres where clinical evaluation, nocturnal oximetry and capnography
monitoring and/or poly(somno)graphy and analysis of ventilator download
data can be performed regularly to monitor progress. Recent exciting
advances in technology, particularly in telemonitoring, which have
potential to hugely benefit this complex group of patients are also
discussed.