Artificial humidified effects for airway by heat / moisture exchanger combined closed endotracheal suctioning

Objective To explore humidifying effects for artificial airway of mechanically ventilated patients by heat/moisture exchanger(HME) combined closed endotracheal suctioning(CS).Methods A total of 114 patients who had mechanical ventilation for at least 48h were randomly divided into two groups with 59 cases in experimental grooup and 55 cases in control group.HME combined CS were used in the experimental group,heated humidifier combined open endotracheal suctioning were used in the control group.The effect of humidification, the reserved time of artificial airway,the time on mechanical ventilation, the time of stay in ICU, the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia(VAP) and the mortality rate between the two groups were compared.Results Significant differences were found in the effect of humidification between the experimental group and the control group,more cases found insufficiency of humidification or excessive humidification and airway spasm in the control group, however,less time on mechanical ventilation and stay in ICU in the experimental group.The incidence of VAP in the control group was significantly higher than that in the experimental group.There were no significant differences existed in the reserved time of artificial airway and the mortality rate between the two groups.There were no accident of humidification occurred in the experimental group,while 8 cases complicated with choking with water in the control group.Condusion HME combined CS,used in mechanically ventilated patients ,could help to improve the effects of airway humidification and reduce the incidence of VAP,also shorten the duration of mechanical ventilation. Key words: Mechanical ventilation; HME; CS; Airway management; Humidification