[Effectiveness of chest physiotherapy in ventilated children with acute bronchiolitis]

Abstract

Objectives: Despite the lack of clinical studies, chest physiotherapy (CP) is widely used in children with acute bronchiolitis. The main goal of this study was to evaluate its short-term efficacy in children under mechanical ventilation for acute bronchiolitis.

Methods: Twenty children were studied. All were under mechanical ventilation on a pressure-controlled mode. Oxygen saturation, transcutaneous PCO2 and tidal volume were measured before any intervention, after endotracheal suction, after CP and endotracheal suction and 1 h later.

Results: Thirty-eight analyses were performed. Baseline tidal volume, oxygen saturation and transcutaneous PCO2 were not modified after endotracheal suction. Immediately and 1 h after CP, SpO2 (98% vs. 94.5%), and tidal volume (66 vs. 55 ml) significantly increased.

Conclusion: The increase of O2 saturation and tidal volume may be linked to the improvement of bronchial sputum clearance. Further studies are needed to estimate the long-term efficacy of CP in acute bronchiolitis.