PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - C. Gregoretti
AU  - P. Navalesi
AU  - S. Ghannadian
AU  - A. Carlucci
AU  - P. Pelosi
TI  - Choosing a ventilator for home mechanical ventilation
AID  - 10.1183/20734735.042312
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - Breathe
PG  - 394--409
VI  - 9
IP  - 5
4099  - http://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/9/5/394.short
4100  - http://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/9/5/394.full
SO  - breathe2013 Sep 01; 9
AB  - Educational aims To discuss the basic principles of ventilator function To help the reader to recognise the different features of a home care ventilator To outline the advantages and drawbacks of the different home care ventilators To provide some recommendations to facilitate the clinical management of patients on home care ventilator Summary Mechanical ventilation, applied either invasively through a tracheotomy tube or noninvasively via a mask, is increasingly used for long-term management of many forms of severe chronic respiratory failure in the home setting. In recent years, the quality of the ventilators for long-term home mechanical ventilation has improved considerably and, concomitantly, the number of machines available has also increased. This broader range of commercially available machines is clearly an advantage; however, it makes the choice of the optimal device for a specific patient more difficult. The aim of the present article is to provide useful information to help and guide the choice of device for long-term mechanical ventilation in the home setting.