Monitoring Respiratory Muscle Function in Acute Respiratory Failure Patients on Non Invasive Respiratory Support

Acute respiratory failure is a common, life-threatening condition where the lungs cannot provide enough oxygen to the body. Many patients are treated with non-invasive respiratory support (NRS) such as high-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), or bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP). However, up to half of patients receiving NRS still deteriorate and require intubation and invasive ventilation, which is linked to longer hospital stays, more complications, and slower recovery. A major challenge in caring for these patients is that clinicians currently cannot directly see how well the breathing muscles (especially the diaphragm and parasternal intercostal muscles) and the lungs are working while the patient is using NRS. Existing bedside measures, such as respiratory rate or oxygen levels, only show part of the picture. They do not indicate how hard the patient is working to breathe or whether their respiratory muscles are becoming fatigued. This lack of information may delay important decisions about adjusting NRS settings or switching to other treatments. This study aims to find out whether two advanced but non-invasive, radiation-free bedside monitoring tools can be used effectively in routine care: 1. Ultrasound, which can measure breathing muscle thickness, movement, and lung aeration 2. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT), which uses a soft belt of small electrodes around the chest to measure changes in air and blood flow within different regions of the lungs in real time These tools have shown promise in earlier research, and interviews with patients and clinicians suggest they are comfortable, well-tolerated, and potentially useful. However, they have not yet been evaluated together in a real-world hospital environment where many acute respiratory failure patients are cared for outside the ICU. What the study will involve: Up to 100 adults with acute respiratory failure requiring any type of non invasive respiratory