Safety and Efficacy of High-flow Nasal Cannula Therapy in the Pediatric Emergency Department

The objective of this review was to provide a summary of the current literature on heated humidified high-flow nasal cannula therapy (HFNC), discuss the mechanism of action, describe how HFNC is used, indications for use, and safety and efficacy in the pediatric emergency department (PED). A computer-based literature search through January 2019 was conducted using MEDLINE (PubMed) and Google Scholar. We included all original studies on HFNC use in pediatric patients in the PED. Our search identified fourteen studies that met the search criteria and all were reviewed by the authors. The majority of patients (1867, 67%) included in these studies were children with acute bronchiolitis. While, most of the studies concluded that HFNC was more effective than standard oxygen therapy in reducing respiratory rate, heart rate, endotracheal intubation rate and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission, the limited data suggest that HFNC had similar effect to continuous positive airway pressure in patients with acute bronchiolitis. There is no general practice about the initiation and weaning of HFNC yet. Although a small number of adverse effects have been reported, HFNC therapy was usually safe. HFNC is a useful treatment modality for children with acute bronchiolitis. In the acute setting, it was shown to decrease respiratory rate, heart rate, RS, need for endotracheal intubation, and PICU admission. However, there is limited data on the initiation process, flow rate, and standardized protocol for weaning patients off HFNC. Further studies are needed to address these issues.