[Use of BiPAP during weaning from mechanical ventilation in a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and acute respiratory failure].

In a 65-year-old man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and acute respiratory failure, bi-level positive airway pressure device (BiPAP) was used as part of weaning from mechanical ventilation. As an outpatient, he had had dyspnea of grade V (Hugh-Jones) and was hypercapnic (PaCO2 of 70 torr) and hypoxemic (PaO2 of 60 torr), while he was receiving oxygen at 2 L/min via nasal cannula. Acute respiratory failure developed due to pneumonia, and mechanical ventilation was begun. However, he could not be weaned with a standard weaning technique (T-piece). On the fifth day of mechanical ventilation, he was extubated and treatment with BiPAP was begun. He did not complain of dyspnea even though PaCO2 did not decrease, which indicates that BiPAP reduced the work of breathing. Use of BiPAP might make reintubation unnecessary when acute ventilatory failure develops soon after extubation in patients with COPD.