(ANSA) - ROME, APRIL 01 - It looks like the helmet used by divers but allows patients with severe respiratory failure, such as those with Covid-19 pneumonia, to breathe.
The helmet was invented and produced in Italy and it is almost only Italian resuscitators who use it.
A study just published in the scientific journal Jama, shows that the Italian way to non-invasive respiratory support, with this helmet, can be successful in patients with Covid-19 because it reduces the need for intubation by 40%, compared to oxygen therapy. at high flows, which is considered the optimal respiratory support in case of hypoxemia.
Domenico Luca Grieco and Massimo Antonelli (for the Covid-Icu Gemelli Study Group), are the authors of the work and suggest that the helmet could be the best way to 'breathe' these patients, reducing the need for intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation.
"The helmet is an all-Italian approach. Its use is not frequent abroad - says Grieco, resuscitator at the Intensive Care Unit of the Columbus Covid2 Hospital-Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli Irccs - while high flow oxygen therapy has so far been considered the gold standard for these patients (as outlined in the 2020 guidelines for patients with severe hypoxemia) ".
The study, says Massimo Antonelli, director of Anesthesia, Intensive Care, Intensive Care and Clinical Toxicology of the Agostino Gemelli Irccs University Polyclinic Foundation and full professor of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at the Catholic University, Rome campus, "was funded by the Italian Society of anesthesia, analgesia, resuscitation and intensive care (Siaarti) and conducted in collaboration with the Rimini Hospital and the Universities of Ferrara, Chieti and Bologna ".
The work was conducted between October 2020 and February 2021 on 109 patients enrolled in some Italian intensive care units.
To believe in helmets for patients with Covid-19 were also 5 Italian entrepreneurs (Flavio Cattaneo, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Diego Della Valle, Isabella Seragnoli and Alberto Vacchi) who, last spring, through the association 'Aiutiamoci', founded by them, they bought several hundred, to donate them to various Italian regions, including Lazio.
Part of the 'helmets' used at the Columbus Covid2 Hospital-Gemelli.
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