Over the last 20 years, various systems have been developed for home use to deliver oxygen in comfort mode. Oxypoint introduces comfort oxygen therapy in hospitals and provides you with the link to the most relevant decisions from the literature that also apply to the hospital environment.
The literature is organized according to the following five topics:
Oxygen delivery via demand oxygen delivery systems or continuous delivery confers similar effects in terms of SpO2% or exercise performance in patients with COPD.
Pulse flow oxygen (= comfort mode) and continuous oxygen produce similar levels of saturation (SaO2) over the course of day and night. Potential cost savings achieved by pulse flow oxygen is achieved by eliminating the cost of humidification of oxygen and reducing the bulk oxygen consumption with 60%.
A pulse dose oxygen delivery system (PDODS) ensures an adequate nocturnal oxygenation.
A dose oxygen delivery system (DODS) device ensures good quality oxygenation among most patients (here: moderate to severe COPD patients), provided that the oxygen flow rate is personalized. The Use of the DODS device permitted an average oxygen consumption reduction of 60%.
Equivalent saturation of DODS in comparison with continuous flow in rest, exercise and sleep. DODS lowered oxygen use with 45% during rest, 44% during exercise and 39% during sleep.
The routine humidification of oxygen in low-flow oxygen therapy is not justifiable and non-humidified oxygen tend to be more beneficial.
Humidified oxygen does not appear to alleviate the dry nose, dry mouth, cough and pleghm symptoms.
The unheated bubble humidification performed no better in preventing deterioration of mucociliary clearance (MCC), mucus hydration, and pulmonary function than no humidification.
Reusable humidifiers for oxygen therapy are highly susceptible to microbial contamination. They can be involved in the transmission of potential pathogens.
The humidifier reservoir water was heavily contaminated with fungi (46%) and bacteria (30%). Some of these contaminants such as Aspergillus spp, Scedosporium spp, Penicillum spp, F oryzihabitans, and P aeruginosa are known as potentially lower respiratory tract pathogenes and life-threatening in immunocompromised hosts and even outbreaks.
This study indicates a potential in-hospital source of allergens and infections. The oxygen and nebulizer chambers need to be cleaned more frequently with disinfectants, to control the possible nosocomial infections.
Our study indicates a potential risk of nosocomial infection due to microbial colonization of various respiratory devices.
Demand oxygen delivery systems (DODS) may maintain the fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) better than continuous flow when respiratory frequency increases.
The fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) is increased with demand oxygen delivery systems (DODS) in comparison to continuous flow oxygen when oxygen is delivered within the first 0,6 seconds of the inhalation.
The demand oxygen delivery systems (DODS) maintained saturation (SaO2) in rest, which indicates they provide an adequate alternative supplemental oxygen source then continuous delivery in rest. To ensure equivalent saturation as continuous during exercise, the right type of DODS must be used, more specifically increased oxygen delivery during exercise in comparison to a constant minute volume.