inhalation therapy

It is especially the critically ill patient who tends to suffer from desiccated and painful irritated nasal and oral mucosa.

The main causes are:

• choice of an ineffective ventilation mode (e.g. at COPD patients)
• reinforced oral breathing
• reinforced intensive gas flow (e.g. while using continuous flow sleep apnoea devices)
• dry room climate due to heater and/or air conditioning system
• application of dry respiratory gas (e.g. oxygen via nasal tube, face mask, etc.)
• dehydration (resulting from insufficient fluid intake, diarrhoea, etc.)

While suffering those symptoms, the patient's feeling of impairment may well influ-ence therapeutic measures and dramatically restrict his quality of life.

One main preventive measure is to sufficiently heat and humidify the inspired gas.