Maquet introduces NAVA for non-invasive ventilation for patients

22 Oct 2010

Maquet Critical Care has introduced  NAVA for non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in adult patients at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine‘s 23rd Annual Congress this month.

Neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) has become an established method of treatment in hospitals globally and now enables both invasive and non-invasive treatment.

In conventional non-invasive ventilation, patient-ventilator asynchrony is common. Studies suggest that leaks may play a major role in generating patient-ventilator asynchrony and discomfort.

NAVA provides synchronized assist while breath triggering and cycle-off are not affected by leakage. Every patient effort is assessed and responded to equally effectively regardless of patient interface used, resulting in reduced work of breathing and increased patient comfort.

“NAVA has already become a trusted and established treatment method for invasively ventilated patients and we are proud to make the benefits of NAVA available also for non-invasive ventilation,” said Jens Viebke, President at MAQUET Critical Care. “Our hope is that NAVA will help increase usage of NIV and thereby reduce the need for intubation of patients.”

About NAVA

The NAVA approach to mechanical ventilation is based on the patient’s neural respiratory output. Signals from the respiratory control in the brain are transmitted through the phrenic nerve to the diaphragm, a catheter senses the electrical activity (Edi) and feeds it to the ventilator. The ventilator responds by providing the requested level of support to the patient. As the ventilator and diaphragm work with the same signal, the coupling between the two is virtually instantaneous.

There are several benefits with NAVA including:

  • improved synchrony between the patient and the ventilator;
  • enhanced patient comfort as the improved synchrony helps minimize patient discomfort and agitation while it promotes spontaneous breathing;
  • the Edi signal can be used as decision support for medical staff concerning intubation and/or extubation;
  • the Edi signal can be used as a unique monitoring tool providing information about respiratory drive, volume requirements, effects of changes in ventilatory settings and to gain indications for sedation and weaning.

 

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