Heliox and Posture in Patients With Asthma

When associated with inhaled bronchodilators, the heliox, a mixture of helium and oxygen in obstructive lung diseases with asthma, reduces the turbulence of airflow despite high rates, due to its low density.

Although the first report of the use of heliox in the treatment of asthma dating to 1935, few controlled studies are available clarify the impact of the use of heliox in hospital admission of patients with acute asthma attacks refractory to standard treatment.

The severe airflow obstruction, observed in cases of acute asthma, also leads to lung hyperinflation that favors the increase of respiratory work by increasing the load for the inspiratory muscles by placing them at a mechanical disadvantage.

Various body positions were studied relating them to muscle activity with mechanical disadvantage. These studies suggest that the influence posture acts mainly in the position of the diaphragm, thus, increasing the stress related to other muscles such as the abdominals and the effect of gravity on these.

This study aims to: assess the efficiency of the positioning body associated with nebulization with bronchodilators carried by heliox during acute severe asthma in adults, using as the primary outcomes FEV1, FVC and PEF and secondary outcomes as the Borg scale, inspiratory capacity, RR, HR and SpO2.