High-flow nasal cannula for COVID-19 patients: low risk of bio-aerosol dispersion

Jie Li; James B Fink; Stephan Ehrmann

doi:10.1183/13993003.00892-2020

High-flow nasal cannula for COVID-19 patients: low risk of bio-aerosol dispersion

Eur Respir J. 2020 May 14;55(5):2000892. doi: 10.1183/13993003.00892-2020. Print 2020 May.

Authors

Jie Li¹, James B Fink², Stephan Ehrmann³

Affiliations

¹ Dept of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Division of Respiratory Care, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA Jie_Li@rush.edu.
² Dept of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Division of Respiratory Care, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
³ CHRU Tours, Médecine Intensive Réanimation, CIC INSERM 1415, CRICS-TriggerSep network, Tours France; and INSERM, Centre d'étude des pathologies respiratoires, U1100, Université de Tours, Tours, France.

Abstract

Bio-aerosol dispersion via high-flow nasal cannula shows a similar risk to standard oxygen masks. High-flow nasal prongs with a surgical mask on the patient's face might benefit hypoxaemic COVID-19 patients without added risk for the environment. https://bit.ly/34p7Fyy

Publication types

Letter
Comment

MeSH terms

Aerosols
Betacoronavirus
COVID-19
Cannula*
Coronavirus Infections
Critical Illness
Cross-Over Studies
Humans
Oxygen
Pandemics
Pneumonia*
Pneumonia, Viral
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Aerosols
Oxygen