Efficacy of Early Noninvasive Ventilation in Three Cases of Nonfatal Drowning with Pulmonary Oedema in the Paediatric Emergency Department

Abstract

Drowning is still one of the most important causes of the preventable mortality worldwide. Some patients should be treated with noninvasive ventilation immediately in the emergency department (ED). The practice of noninvasive ventilation has been increased recently in the paediatric ED. We present here three nonfatal drowning patients with pulmonary oedema and hypoxia who were successfully treated with noninvasive ventilation in the paediatric emergency department. All of the patients had aspirated sea water during swimming. In addition, two of the patients had aspirated water during snorkeling. Noninvasive ventilation was applied to the patients immediately in paediatric emergency service. All of the patient's clinical and radiological findings recovered rapidly. There are limited reports about use of noninvasive ventilation in nonfatal drowning cases in the paediatric emergency department. We emphasize that the early application of noninvasive ventilation should be a preventive method for reducing the morbidity of nonfatal drowning cases. (Hong Kong j.emerg.med. 2016;23:42-46)