In case no one has informed you lately, there is now a new hope for patients with Respiratory Failure in their own home. In days gone by, typical COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) patients who retain CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) had no choice but to go to the emergency room and incur a hospital stay; typically in the Intensive Care Unit. Mechanical ventilation or some other type of respiratory support device would be used to help control their carbon dioxide levels and they would be sent home, only to repeat the process several days later.
Now, thanks to Phillips/Respironics and your local durable medical equipment (DME) company, you have a new option. The device is called the Trilogy and it works like a ventilator, but in a non-invasive way. That means no tubes need to be placed in the trachea and the device can be used with a mask, similar to a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) or BiLevel machine. This means that the patient’s comfort level is greatly increased and they can also breathe much easier.
A patient recently told me, “This has changed my life. In fact, I think it has saved my life because before I used it, I could never get enough air.” Testimonials like this are numerous and those of us who work in the medical field are delighted to hear them. Making a difference in someone’s life and taking care of problems are some of the main reasons most of us are in the medical field.
On the technical side, the Phillips/Respironics Trilogy can be used both invasively and non-invasively and the controls and parameters can be adjusted in the same way as hospital ventilators. Ventilation modes offered are VC, PC, AC, SIMV, and BiPAP S, T, or S/T. You can set tidal volumes, rate, inspiratory time, choose between square and ramp waveforms, and it includes all the bells and whistles that are typical of most vents. The advantage for someone who needs to monitor their CO2 retention is that the device can not only offer tidal volume control, but also has pressure support in its AVAPS setting, making the device easier to breathe than a normal device. standard bilevel.
If you are a patient, have a family member who you think would benefit, or are a patient advocate for a patient with respiratory failure and feel the Trilogy would be beneficial, talk to your doctor, case manager, or medical equipment company and help someone that “You can’t seem to get enough air” finally breathe easier.