The 252nd ENMC workshop held on Mouthpiece Ventilation (MPV) in March 2020, helped to develop best practice guidelines and provide a number of useful supplementary tools for professionals to use in patient handover – the publication can be read here in full here.
Studies show that mechanical ventilation improves symptoms, gas exchange, quality of life and survival in Neuromuscular disorders (NMD). But in spite of growing evidence about the benefits of mouthpiece ventilation (MPV) for patients with NMD, including those with centronuclear and myotubular myopathy, MPV is still a relatively under-prescribed form of mechanical ventilation.
When looking to the literature there is very little evidence for the use of MPV in some neuromuscular conditions, but the group felt that all patients should be assessed on an individual basis and not be excluded from a trial of MPV due to the inadequacy of the literature. Barriers to patients accessing the MPV until now, has often been because of the inexperience of respiratory treatment centres or lack of customised accessories to make the equipment easier and more comfortable for patients to use, for example.
The workshop guidelines should now really help to support respiratory professionals in their understanding of how to identify and deliver this type of respiratory therapy to neuromuscular patients for use in conjunction with, or instead of, other forms of mechanical ventilation.
Mouthpiece Ventilation- ENMC Guidelines 2020
