Efficacy of High Flow Nasal Cannula in the Treatment of Patients with COVID-19 with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Results of Single Centre Study in Vietnam

Abstract Introduction Most hospitalized patients required invasive or non-invasive ventilation and High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC). Therefore, this study was conducted to describe the characteristics of patients with severe Coronavirus Disease—2019 (COVID-19) treated by HFNC and its effectiveness for reducing the rate of intubated—mechanical ventilation in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Phu Chanh COVID-19 Department—Binh Duong General Hospital. Methods It was a cross-sectional and descriptive study. All severe patients with COVID-19 with acute respiratory failure eligible for the study were included. Patient characteristics, clinical symptoms, laboratory results, and treatment methods were collected for analysis; parameters and data related to HFNC treatment and follow-up were analysed. Results 80 patients, aged of 49.7 ± 16.6 years, were treated with HFNC at admission in ICU. 14 patients had type 2 diabetes (17.5%), 3 patients had chronic respiratory disease (3.8%), 19 patients had high blood pressure (23.8%), and 5 patients with other comorbidities (7.4%). The majority of patients with severe COVID-19 had typical symptoms of COVID-19 such as shortness of breath (97.5%), intensive tired (81.3%), cough (73.7%), anosmia (48.3%), ageusia (41.3%), and fever (26.3%). The results of arterial blood gases demonstrated severe hypoxia under optimal conventional oxygen therapy (PaO2 = 52.5 ± 17.4 mmHg). Respiratory rate, SpO2, PaO2 were significantly improved after using HFNC at 1st day, 3rd day and 7th day (P