Resp Care
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Artificial airway cuff pressure should be maintained within a narrow range. Excessive cuff pressure presents a risk of tracheal damage and stenosis. Insufficient cuff pressure adds the risk of secretion leak past the cuff, tidal-volume leakage, and accidental extubation. The available cuff-inflation devices do not address these problems. ⋯ The cuff-inflation device demonstrated possible improvements over available cuff-inflation devices and cuff-pressure-control methods.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Chair-sitting exercise intervention does not improve respiratory muscle function in mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients.
Chair-sitting may allow for more readily activated scalene, sternocleidomastoid, and parasternal intercostal muscles, and may raise and enlarge the upper thoracic cage, thereby allowing the thoracic cage to be more easily compressed. ⋯ Six days of chair-sitting exercise training did not significantly improve respiratory muscle function in mechanically ventilated patients.