Does Nasal High-flow Oxygen Potentiate the Effects of Rehabilitative Exercise Training in Chronic Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease?

Hallmarks of fibrotic interstitial lung disease (f-ILD) include severe hypoxemia, dyspnea and exercise limitation. Although ambulatory oxygen (O2) therapy is widely prescribed, standard low-flow O2 systems (nasal prongs) fail to meet patients' inspiratory demand on exertion resulting in incomplete correction of hypoxemia and limited symptomatic relief. Nasal high-flow O2 therapy (NHFO2) delivers heated, humidified, and O2-enriched air at high flow rates. It has recently emerged as a promising alternative to overcome the pre-specified limitations: NHFO2 is more effective in correcting hypoxemia and reducing dyspnea vs standard O2 therapy and consistently improved exercise capacity in f-ILD. In fact, NHF per se may exert independent physiological benefits such as washout of the anatomical dead space and reduced work of breathing. However, the respective effect of respiratory support and improved oxygenation on dyspnea and exercise tolerance remain unexplored in f-ILD. To address this gap in knowledge, this prospective, randomized-controlled trial aimed to disentangle the i) independent and ii) combined effects of respiratory support and supplemental O2 on dyspnea and exercise tolerance in patients with f-ILD.