Non-invasive ventilation in the emergency room

Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) has demonstrated a definite benefit in cases of severe acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema (PAO). Improving the management of acute respiratory failure in the emergency department requires on the one hand knowledge of the patients'' profile and of the NIV sessions modalities and on the other hand early detection of the factors predicting failure.The objective of this work was to determine the indications the modalities and the predictive factors of failure of NIV in the emergency room.