Transcutaneous CO2 Measurement - From Hospital to Home

Long-term non-invasive ventilation (LT-NIV) is the main treatment modality for chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure.To assess the adequacy of alveolar ventilation during sleep and potential sleep hypoventilation, nocturnal transcutaneous CO2 (PtcCO2) monitoring is necessary. There is an increased tendency to monitor patients at home, but there is a lack of robust data comparing the technical success rates between the home and inpatient setting of PtcCO2 monitoring. The primary aim of the current study was to evaluate the rate of successful nocturnal PtcCO2 monitoring in a home setting in a population of patients with chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure receiving LT-NIV. The secondary aim was to compare these data with PtcCO2 registrations performed during regular follow up of a similar population of patients in a hospital setting.