High Flow Oxygen Therapy

CVRC is pleased to offer High Flow Oxygen Therapy (HFOT), another option for patients requiring respiratory support. HFOT is used to assist pets experiencing mild to moderate forms of respiratory distress and hypoxemia.

HFOT joins our traditional options for providing supplemental oxygen: flow-by, face mask, oxygen cages, and nasal cannulas.

This technology is part of our commitment to provide the most advanced techniques to critically ill pets in respiratory failure or with severe injuries that require temporary breathing support.

How it Works

HFOT is designed to add warm moisture to breathing gases during respiratory ventilation. It uses a soft, comfortable cannula that allows patients to eat, drink, and take oral medications.

While it is unnecessary to add humidity to short-term oxygen supplementation, the same is not true for long-term. The risk of respiratory infections increases the longer the respiratory tract is exposed to dry air.

Benefits

HFOT allows for warming and humidification of air to provide greater patient comfort and potentially reduce airway inflammation, increased mucociliary clearance, alveolar recruitment, dead-space wash out, and reduced work of breathing.

Higher flow rates create continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which provides more effective breathing assistance.

Compared to mechanical ventilation, it is less invasive, involves less monitoring, is less expensive, and the patient is able to be awake during treatment.

When to Use

• Intermediate therapy between traditional oxygen and mechanical ventilation
• Targeted oxygen weaning with specific FiO2
• Hypoxemia refractory to traditional oxygen therapy such as:\r\n\r\n
  • Pneumonia
  • Pulmonary contusions
  • ARDS
  • Post-ventilation weaning
  • Post-op anesthetic recovery
  • Post-BAL / tracheal wash recovery
  • Brachycephalic animals
  • +/- pulmonary edema conditions (NCPE, cardiac)