Pulmonology Research

KEY FINDING: AFES led to a statistically significant increase in peak inspiratory and expiratory flows.

KEY FINDING: AFES was successfully combined with MI-E at eight assessment sessions with a participant with tetraplegia.

KEY FINDING: Chronic spinal cord stimulation (SCS) with wire lead electrodes resulted in significant increases in airway pressure during simulated cough, indicating improved expiratory muscle function.

KEY FINDING: Significant improvements in airflow generated in response to applied inspiratory resistive loads were found after AIH treatment compared to Baseline.

KEY FINDING: The integrated training group (ITG) showed significantly greater improvements in forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) compared to the respiratory muscle training group (RMTG) and the control group (CG).

KEY FINDING: Stimulated Tidal Volume (VT) was significantly greater than unstimulated VT, indicating an immediate positive effect of AFES on respiratory function.

KEY FINDING: Forced vital capacity and peak cough flow increased significantly in the experimental group compared to the controls.

KEY FINDING: Completion of RMT intervention abolished OH in 7 out of 11 individuals.

KEY FINDING: One trial of 75 participants reported that extubation success (defined as no need for reintubation within 48 hours) was higher in the mechanical insufflation-exsufflation (MI-E) group (82.9% versus 52.5%, P < 0.05)

KEY FINDING: Ninety-two percent of patients achieved 16 hours ventilator-free breathing (VFB), and 83% achieved 24 hours VFB.