title: High-frequency percussive ventilation for intercontinental aeromedical evacuation.
abstract: High-frequency percussive ventilation (HFPV) has been used for the management of patients with smoke inhalation injury for more than 20 years and is considered a standard of care at many burn centers. Because the ventilator is powered by air and oxygen rather than electricity, prehospital use has been limited by large-volume medical gas requirements. Since 2003, Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have created a need for long-range aeromedical transfer of service members with severe burn and inhalation injuries. Unique to these conflicts is the availability of US Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft as the primary long-distance airframe. Because C-17 aircraft have a built-in medical oxygen supply, transcontinental patient transport using HFPV has become feasible. In this study, the authors report their initial experiences with the aeromedical transportation of 33 burn patients over a combined distance of 174,145 air miles using HFPV. HFPV is safe and efficacious for transcontinental flight when used by an experienced medical transport team.
authors.affiliation: US Army Institute of Surgical Research, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Barillo
authors.forename: Evan M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Renz
authors.forename: Gabriel R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Kristine P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Broger
authors.forename: Kevin K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Charles K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Leopoldo C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Cancio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055826:Afghan Campaign 2001-; D017732:Air Ambulances; D002059:Burns, Inhalation / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006612:High-Frequency Ventilation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D054542:Iraq War, 2003-2011; D008297:Male; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods; D010348:Patient Care Team; D016896:Treatment Outcome