Oxygen therapy questioned

Monday September 6th, 2010

Patients with serious lung disease and breathing difficulties may not need oxygen treatment to relieve their suffering, researchers say.

Normal air pumped into the nose may provide as much relief as specialist oxygen for shortness of breath, according to an international study.

Even a simple fan mechanism to extra air from the atmosphere might be as effective as canned oxygen, researchers said following the report in The Lancet.

Some 239 patients in the UK, Australia and the USA, were studied for the research.

They were equipped with canisters and nose tubes - but some canisters contained oxygen while others had normal air.

About 50 per cent of the patients reported improvements in quality of life and sleep - regardless of whether they were getting oxygen or air.

Patients had conditions such as chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.

Researcher Amy Abernethy, of Duke Unversity Medical Center, North Carolina, USA, said: "In situations like these, physicians tend to use palliative oxygen treatment out of compassion.

"The decision is not based on clear evidence about what do to because we haven't had any. There's never been a large, meaningful study on the role of oxygen therapy to treat unrelenting shortness of break in this population until now."

She said: "It's important to understand that we are not suggesting that physicians abandon medical gas therapy. It may indeed be helpful.

"But this study tells us that it is not the oxygen itself that is making the difference, and if treatment is not improving symptoms after a few days, then it's okay to stop treatment and try something else."

The Lancet September 3 2010

Tags: Australia | North America | Respiratory | UK News

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