Noninvasive Positive Pressure Ventilation (NIPPV) for Patients with Acute Respiratory Failure after Cardiovascular Surgery

(Department of Surgery V, Intensive Care Unit* and The Second Department of Internal Medicine**, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan)

Hiroshi Naito Tetsuji Kawata Hidehito Sakaguchi
Nobuoki Tabayashi Takashi Ueda Katsuji Hirai*
Atsuhiko Fukuoka** Shigeki Taniguchi
NIPPV provides positive pressure ventilation through a face mask without intubation. We performed NIPPV for 2 patients with acute respiratory failure following cardiovascular surgery. (Case 1) A 63-year-old man, who had had COPD (Hugh-Jones class V), underwent replacement of the aortic arch. He was extubated after 5 days. However, he was re-intubated under controlled ventilation because of deterioration of his respiratory condition. The patient had NIPPV after extubation on postoperative day 14 because he was alert and had no cardiovascular compromise. On the 18th postoperative day he was weaned from NIPPV. (Case 2) A 67-year-old man underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. On the next day he was extubated, but he suffered from hypoxemia due to impaired respiratory condition on postoperative day 3. The patient underwent NIPPV instead of conventional mechanical ventilation because his condition was stable except for respiration. Respiratory condition improved quickly and he was weaned from NIPPV on the 7th postoperative day. NIPPV is an effective method for managing patients with acute respiratory failure after cardiovascular surgery.
@Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 32F94 -97 (2003)