Otolaryngology, Respiratory, and Allergic
Pulmonary Disease Following Cervical Spinal Cord Injury
June 2001
Clinical Focus*
- For persons with traumatic high cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) who are at high risk of respiratory failure or require ventilator support, what are the best practices regarding ventilator management?
- What characteristics predict need for initiation of mechanical ventilation?
- What characteristics predict success in weaning from mechanical ventilation?
- What ventilator management techniques improve the ability to wean from MV?
- What are safe and effective techniques for intubation and airway management?
- What are ventilator management techniques that can preserve lung compliance, prevent atelectasis, and reduce the risk of complications?
- For persons with traumatic cervical SCI who breathe on their own, what interventions—including medications (bronchodilators, mucolytics) and prophylactic respiratory therapy (noninvasive positive pressure ventilation [NPPV], assisted cough, postural drainage, humidification, spirometry, vital capacity [VC] assessment—are effective to reduce the risk of late respiratory failure?
*Addressed in the summary or evidence report.
Treatment of Pulmonary Disease Following Cervical Spinal Cord Injury
Summary (Publication No. 01-E013, June 2001)
Evidence Report (Publication No. 01-E014, September 2001)
(File Download)
EPC: Duke University
Topic Nominators: Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine, Department of Veterans Affairs
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