Angell Now Offering High Flow Oxygen Therapy

Angell’s Emergency & Critical Care service in Boston is pleased to offer High Flow Oxygen Therapy (HFOT) for patients in respiratory need. HFOT can be a life-saving option for patients in acute respiratory distress that are not responding to traditional oxygen therapy (oxygen cages or unilateral/bilateral nasal cannulas) and require more aggressive oxygen therapy, short of mechanical ventilation.

What is HFOT?

HFOT has been used in human medicine as a bridge between traditional oxygen therapy and mechanical ventilation. There is limited veterinary research over the last 3 years evaluating HFOT in healthy dogs and dogs with moderate-to-severe hypoxemia which have demonstrated a significant increase in PaO2 with initiation of HFOT.

HFOT allows for warming and humidification of air to provide greater patient comfort and potentially reduce airway inflammation, increased mucociliary clearance, alveolar recruitment, dead-space wash out, and reduced work of breathing.

Traditional oxygen therapy uses flow rates of 100 mL/kg/min compared to HFOT which uses up to 40 L/min. HFOT is a safe and effective method for oxygen delivery for critically ill patients with respiratory disease.

When should I consider it?

HFOT is a therapy for patients in mild to moderate forms of respiratory distress and hypoxemia, such as:

• Intermediate therapy between traditional oxygen and mechanical ventilation
• Targeted oxygen weaning with specific FiO2
• Hypoxemia refractory to traditional oxygen therapy such as:
  • Pneumonia
  • Pulmonary contusions
  • ARDS
  • Post-ventilation weaning
  • Post-op anesthetic recovery
  • Post-BAL / tracheal wash recovery
  • Brachycephalic animals
  • +/- pulmonary edema conditions (NCPE, cardiac)

For more information on HFOT, please contact our Emergency & Critical Care team at emergency@angell.org or 617-522-7282.