The use of the BiPAP biphasic positive airway pressure system in acute spinal cord injury.

In recent years there has been increasing demand on our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facilities, mainly due to improved resuscitation techniques in the pre-hospital management of spinal cord injury (SCI). This has resulted in an increasing number of high tetraplegic and paraplegic patients with respiratory problems who have survived the initial injury, but have subsequently required ventilatory support, often for several weeks. In view of the continuing pressure on ICU beds and a consequent need for alternative means of providing ventilatory support within the spinal centre rather than within the ICU setting, there was a requirement to provide a simple means of ventilatory support suitable for use within the ward setting. Ventilatory assistance using BiPAP appeared to fulfil these criteria, enabling patients to be managed at reduced cost. We present our experience using this system in 28 acute SCI patients over a 4 year period.