Noninvasive ventilation in cancer children with acute respiratory failure

Objective: To establish the effectiveness of noninvasive ventilation in cancer children with acute respiratory failure. Methods: The data of 33 cancer patients were obtained prospectively from six different pediatric intensive care units in Turkey between the years of 2012 and 2013. Results: The diagnosis was leukemias in 25 (75.8%), lymphomas in 3 (9.1%) and other solid tumors in 5 (15.1%) patients. Pneumonia in 12 (36.3%) and sepsis in 15 (45.4%) patients were seen as the common reasons of respiratory failure. The mean PaO2/ FiO2 ratios were (164.22 +/- 37.24) and (126.80 +/- 42.73) in noninvasive ventilation success and failure group, respectively. Noninvasive ventilation was successful in 18 (54.5%) patients. The failure group consisted of 15 patients required intubation. A total of 14 (42.4%) patients died. The clinical outcome in terms of success and failure was meaningful statistically (P = 0.0 00 1). Conclusions: Our results could encourage the use of noninvasive ventilation in children with cancer who develop acute respiratory failure. It should be considered as a useful therapeutic approach to avoid endotracheal intubation.