Inhalation Therapies Health Article

Definition

Inhalation therapies are a group of respiratory, or breathing, treatments designed to help restore or improve breathing function in patients with a variety of diseases, conditions, or injuries. The treatments range from at-home oxygen therapy for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to mechanical ventilation for patients with acute respiratory failure. Inhalation therapies usually include the following categories:

• oxygen therapy
• incentive spirometry
• continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
• oxygen chamber therapy
• mechanical ventilation
• newborn life support

Purpose

Inhalation therapies are ordered for various stages of diseases that are causing progressive or sudden respiratory failure. Although physicians generally follow guidelines to assign specific therapy according the type and stage of a disease, the ultimate decision is based on a number of tests indicating pulmonary function and the presence or absence of oxygen in body organs and tissues.

Oxygen therapy

In the case of COPD, oxygen therapy does not treat the disease but can prolong life, quality of life, and onset of more serious symptoms. Effective oxygen therapy for any patient should lead to improved or sustained levels of oxygen in arterial blood.

Incentive spirometry

With proper use of incentive spirometry, the physician should observe improved pulse rate, decreased respiratory rate, improved respiratory muscle performance, and other indicators of improved function. Lung function following lung resection should show marked improvement following incentive spirometry.

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)

The effectiveness of CPAP may be limited if patients do not cooperate. Possible side effects of CPAP include skin abrasions from the mask, leakage from the tube or mask, nasal congestion, nasal or oral dryness, or discomfort from the pressure of delivery.

Oxygen chamber therapy

Divers undergoing emergency treatment in a hyperbaric chamber should show immediate improvement in oxygen levels throughout the body, regardless of blood flow restrictions, after one or two treatments. Those patients receiving oxygen chamber therapy for difficult wounds may continue to receive treatments daily for several weeks before satisfactory results are reached. Patients with carbon dioxide poisoning should show improvement in or recovery of neurologic function. Results of hyperbaric chamber therapy depend largely on how quickly the patient was brought to the chamber, as well as the severity of the initial condition.