• A Perrone, M E Quacquarelli, A Barbarossa, A Cargoni, C Magliocco, V Masciangelo, and M Brunori.
• Servizio di Fisiopatologia Respiratoria, Dipartimento di Scienze Cardiovascolari e Respiratorie, Policlinico Umberto I, 00161 Roma, Italia. alessandro.perrone@uniroma1.it
• Clin Ter. 2007 Jan 1; 158 (1): 11-6.

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether long-term Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation (NIMV) might have an effect on respiratory drive and respiratory muscles strength, measuring mouth occlusion pressure (P0,) and maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP).Patients And Methods20 consecutive patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure underwent measurements of dyspnea, respiratory drive and respiratory muscles strength before hospital treatment with NIMV; those patients who showed significant improvement of gas-exchange continued home ventilation for a period of four weeks, and were readmitted to hospital for re-evaluation of Borg's scale for dyspnea, P0,1 and MIP.ResultsData obtained show a mild reduction of P0,1 and a significant improvement of respiratory muscles strength, with satisfactory dyspnea relief.ConclusionsWe conclude that unloading respiratory muscles through mechanical ventilation results in better muscle performance in the long-term that could act, together with normalization of gas-exchange, on neuromuscular respiratory drive and contribute to dyspnea relief.

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