Controlled Low-Flow Oxygen in the Management of Acute Respiratory Failure

¹ Department of Medicine and Respiratory Care Service, Medical College of Virginia, Health Sciences Division of the Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond

Successful management of patients with acute respiratory failure superimposed on chronic pulmonary disease frequently depends on the proper administration of oxygen. Nasal catheters or cannulae provide a most convenient route of therapy, but careful adjustment of the inspired oxygen concentration is essential to achieve a desirable arterial oxygen tension which does not produce serious ventilatory depression by removal of the hypoxic respiratory drive. Data from five patients demonstrate that oxygen flowrates of less than one liter per minute (LPM) are sometimes desirable and necessary when nasal catheters and cannulae are used in the management of acute respiratory failure. An oxygen flowmeter that allows more accurate delivery of low-flow oxygen is described.