RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Domiciliary noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in severe COPD patients: A European survey about indications and practices JF European Respiratory Journal JO Eur Respir J FD European Respiratory Society SP 4867 VO 44 IS Suppl 58 A1 Claudia Crimi A1 Alberto Noto A1 Pietro Princi A1 Antoine Cuvelier A1 Juan Fernando Masa A1 Anita Simonds A1 Mark Elliott A1 Peter Wijkstra A1 Wolfram Windisch A1 Stefano Nava YR 2014 UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/4867.abstract AB IntroductionDespite there is no recommendation on the routine use of domiciliary NIV for severe COPD patients, COPD is a rather common indication.AimTo examine patterns of domiciliary NIV use in severe stable COPD patients among European physicians.MethodsWe conducted a web survey of European physicians.Results206/495 (41.6%) physicians responded to the survey; 70% of the respondents reported > 15 new NIV prescription/year and 96.6% stated that prescription rate for COPD patients was 37.2%, with a heterogeneous distribution among countries. Reduction of hospital admission and exacerbations' frequency, quality of life, dyspnea and gas exchange improvement were considered the main expected benefits for patients; sleep assessment was the principal procedure performed before NIV initiation. Factors considered important to start chronic NIV were recurrent episodes of acute respiratory failure requiring NIV and failure to wean from NIV. Pressure support mode (PSV) was the most used mode: "low" intensity settings were the most popular (46.4%±30.1), followed by "high" intensity ones (26.9%±25.9).The oro-nasal and nasal interfaces were almost equally prescribed.ConclusionsRecurrent exacerbations and failure to wean from NIV were the determinants to start domiciliary NIV. PSV was the preferred mode of physicians surveyed. Nasal and oro-nasal masks were both highly prescribed.