Non Invasive Artificial Ventilation: How, When and Why

Over the last two decades, the increasing use of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has reduced the need for endotracheal ventilation, thus decreasing the rate of ventilation-induced complications. Thus, NIV has decreased both intubation rates and mortality rates in specific subsets of patients with acute respiratory failure (for example, patients with hypercapnia, cardiogenic pulmonary edema, immune deficiencies, or post-transplantation acute respiratory failure). Despite the increased use of N...