Comparison of High-Flow Nasal Cannula Oxygen Application and Classic Nasal Cannula Oxygen Application

Recently, sedation practices have increased for diagnostic and interventional procedures for children in non-operating rooms. On the other hand, the rate of respiratory complications especially in non-operating room sedation applications is quite high. Oxygen therapy in sedation applied to non-operating room endoscopy patients is mostly performed with classical nasal cannula. However, recently, the use of High-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy has been increasing.

Classical nasal cannula oxygen therapy application; It is a system made of plastic or rubber material with two open ends placed in the patient's nostrils. It is the most commonly used oxygen therapy application method. However, it has some disadvantages. The most important of these is that the oxygen given in this method cannot be humidified, causing drying in mucous membranes at high flow rates of more than 4 L / min and problems in patient compliance. This situation prevents us to increase the oxygen FiO2 rate applied to the patient above 40%.

According to the classical nasal cannula oxygen therapy application where non-moistened oxygen is applied in high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy applications where heated and humidified oxygen can be delivered, oxygen therapy can be applied at a flow rate of 25L / min. This method has many advantages. Some of those; makes it possible to provide high flows easily, prevents the airway epithelium from drying out and improves mucus cleansing, causing a decrease in anatomical dead space. It provides discharge of expired air in the upper airways. It reduces the respiration of gas with high CO2 and decreased O2. It increases alveolar ventilation. It is easy to use and increases patient comfort. It offers a stream adjusted to all children. Flow and titration can be adjusted according to the child's weight and effect. Physiological evidence in the pediatric population indicates that flows equal to or higher than 2 L / kg / min produce clinically significant pharyngeal pressure, improve breathing and accelerate the emptying of the respiratory muscles. Because of all these features, high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy application is used safely in pediatric patients.

In general, it is reported that in non-operating room anesthesia, sedation or anesthesia applied in pediatric patients causes undesirable effects by 20%, most of them (5.5%) have respiratory complications and bradycardia due to hypoxemia.

In this study, we aimed to compare the respiratory and hemodynamic results of high-flow nasal cannula oxygen application, which is routinely used in sedation applications in the pediatric endoscopy unit of our hospital, with the classical nasal cannula oxygen therapy application.