A European survey of Non- Invasive Ventilation (NIV)

Although non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is becoming very popular, little is known about its pattern of clinical and technical utilization in the different environments. We conducted a web-based survey in Europe to identify the perceived pattern of NIV utilization and the reason for choosing a specific ventilator and interface type in 4 common clinical scenarios: Acute Hypercapnic Respiratory Failure (AHRF), Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema (CPE), de novo hypoxic respiratory failure, Weaning/Post-extubation failure (W/PE). A response was obtained from 272/530 (51.3%) selected European physicians involved in NIV practice. NIV utilization rate was higher for Pulmonologists than Intensivists/Anesthesiologists (p<0.05). The most common indication was AHRF (48%) for all the physicians. Physicians were more likely to use NIV dedicated ventilator in AHRF and CPE and ICU ventilator with NIV module in de novo hypoxic respiratory failure and W/PE, mainly because of the possibility of using the double circuit and FiO2 control. Oro-nasal mask was overall the most frequently used interface, irrespecteve of clinical scenarios. The use of NIV in Europe is generally relatively high, especially among Pulmonologists, and in AHRF. Dedicated NIV ventilators and ICU ventilators with NIV modules are preferably used in AHRF and in de-novo hypoxic respiratory failure, respectively, together with oro-nasal masks.