Annals of Intensive Care volume 14 , Article number: Cite this article. Metrics details. Although largely used, the place of oxygen therapy and its devices in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure ARF deserves to be clarified. A committee without any conflict of interest CoI with the subject defined 7 generic questions and drew up a list of sub questions according to the population, intervention, comparison and outcomes PICO model.
An independent work group reviewed the literature using predefined keywords. Fifteen experts in the field from both societies proposed their own answers in a public session and answered questions from the jury a panel of 16 critical-care and emergency medicine physicians, nurses and physiotherapists without any CoI and the public.
The jury then met alone for 48 h to write its recommendations. The jury provided 22 statements answering 11 questions: in patients with ARF 1 What are the criteria for initiating oxygen therapy? The consensus conference aims to provide evidence-based guidelines for using oxygen in hypoxemic acute respiratory failure ARF in adults, excluding cases related to acute lung edema and hypercapnic ARF type II.
These guidelines are intended for healthcare professionals involved in oxygen therapy in pre-hospital, hospital emergency, critical care, and intensive care settings. Hypoxemic ARF occurs when the respiratory system suddenly fails to ensure adequate oxygenation, leading to severe acute hypoxemia without hypercapnia.
It is diagnosed in the absence of underlying lung disease or acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema [ 1 ], with pneumonia being the main cause. The definition of hypoxemic ARF remains unclear, and establishing a new definition is the focus of this consensus conference. Hypoxemia results from reduced oxygen pressure in inspired air, alveolar hypoventilation, impaired alveolar oxygen diffusion, shunt, and poor ventilation-perfusion ratios. Oxygen therapy aims to treat hypoxemic hypoxia by increasing the fraction of inspired oxygen, thereby raising arterial oxygen content.
