Impact of NAVA (Neurally Adjusted Ventilatory Assist) on Ventilatory Demand During Pediatric Non-Invasive Ventilation

Mechanical ventilation permits to support the work of breathing in case of respiratory failure, but therapy also has many side effects. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV), which delivers the ventilatory assist via a face mask or nasal canula, permits to decrease these complications. However, NIV is not always successful and half of children in respiratory failure finally require invasive ventilation. A major cause of NIV failure is the ventilator inability to detect patient efforts. The new ventilatory mode NAVA (neurally adjusted ventilatory assist) improves the detection of patient efforts during mechanical ventilation. The hypothesis of this study is that NAVA improves synchrony during pediatric NIV and therefore permits to unload the patient ventilatory efforts.