Evaluation of the catheter positioning for neurally adjusted ventilatory assist

摘要

PurposeDuring neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) the ventilator is driven by the patients electrical activation of the diaphragm (EAdi), detected by a special esophageal catheter. A reliable positioning of the EAdi-catheter is mandatory to trace a representative EAdi signal. We aimed to determine whether a formula that is based on the measurement from nose to ear lobe to xiphoid process of the sternum (NEX distance) modified for EAdi-catheter placement (NEXmod) is sufficient for predicting the accurate catheter position.