Physiotherapist-led intermittent noninvasive ventilation for hypoxaemia following abdominal surgery in a quaternary Australian hospital: a randomised pilot feasibility trial.
Physiotherapist-led noninvasive ventilation was acceptable to most postoperative hypoxaemia patients
Physiotherapist-led intermittent noninvasive ventilation for hypoxaemia following abdominal surgery in a quaternary Australian hospital: a randomised pilot feasibility trial.
Physiotherapy management of postoperative hypoxaemia is understudied.
This trial aimed to assess the feasibility of a trial of physiotherapist-led noninvasive ventilation (noninvasive ventilation) in adults with hypoxaemia following major abdominal surgery.
This prospective, single-centre, parallel-group, assessor-blinded, feasibility pilot trial with concealed allocation and intention-to-treat analysis randomised adults with hypoxaemia (oxyhaemoglobin saturations <90% on room air) within 72 h of major abdominal surgery to either usual care physiotherapy (education, early mobilisation, and deep breathing and coughing exercises), or usual care plus four 30-min sessions of physiotherapist-led noninvasive ventilation.
Mean age (standard deviation) was 62 (10) yr and 51% were male.
Over 30 weeks, the recruitment rate was 1.7 participants per week (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.7-3.4).
Mean total noninvasive ventilation delivered was 78 min (95% CI, 55-100) of the protocolised 120 min.
The postoperative pulmonary complications incidence on trial enrolment ranged from 6% (3/49; 95% CI, 2%-17%) to 47% (23/49; 95% CI, 34%-61%) depending on the measurement tool used.
Recruitment to this trial of physiotherapist-led noninvasive ventilation in patients with postoperative hypoxaemia was feasible.
noninvasive ventilation was rated acceptable by most participants, and noninvasive ventilation adherence similar to that of previous trials.
This study provides valuable insights for the design and conduct of future physiotherapy postoperative treatment studies.