TY - JOUR T1 - Covid19: minimising risk to healthcare workers during aerosol producing respiratory therapy using an innovative constant flow canopy JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.01017-2020 SP - 2001017 AU - Yochai Adir AU - Ori Segol AU - Dmitry Kompaniets AU - Hadas Ziso AU - Yechiam Yaffe AU - Irina Bergman AU - Erez Hassidov AU - Arieh Eden Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2020/04/16/13993003.01017-2020.abstract N2 - Noninvasive ventilation (NIV), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) can be used as the first line of treatment in COVID19 patients with respiratory failure, postponing and maybe even avoiding the need for intubation and mechanical ventilation [1]. Recent systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrated that HFNC reduces the need for intubation compared with conventional oxygen with no change of the death risk or ICU length of stay [2, 3], while no direct evidence supports the use of NIV due to a high failure rate [4]. However, when resources become limited with no option of invasive ventilation, the use of NIV may be justified. The major caveat of using noninvasive respiratory support in the face of the COVID19 pandemic is the generation of aerosols composed of small virus containing particles which may remain suspended in the air, with increased risk of health care workers (HCW) [7, 8]. The risk of aerosolization depends on many variables, including duration of use, flow velocity, mask leakage and patient coughing and cooperation.An innovative constant flow canopy enable non invasive respiratory support with minimal risk of HCW infection. ER -