Respiratory physical therapy techniques recommended for patients with cystic fibrosis treated in specialized centers.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory therapy is a part of the treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). However, there is no information about the main factors influencing the recommendation of the use of different techniques or devices by physical therapists from different specialized centers. OBJECTIVE: To determine the respiratory therapy techniques recommended for the treatment of patients with CF seen in specialized treatment centers in Brazil. METHODS: This is a descriptive study including a sample of Brazilian CF specialized treatment centers. Data on demographics, spirometric variables, and recommended respiratory therapy treatment techniques were collected. RESULTS: Twelve specialized treatment centers with a total of 974 patients were included (13.5±11.3 years old and FEV1 (%) 75.7±27.9). The most recommended techniques were huffing (61.1% of patients), high frequency oral oscillation (HFOO) (52.0%), and positive expiratory pressure (PEP) (45.3%). Most often, recommendation was to perform treatment once (54.8% of patients) or twice (34%) a day. There was great variability in the recommendation among the different states. When data were separated by age, there was a predominance of performing conventional and manual techniques in infants and preschool children. There were no significant variations according to pulmonary function. Based on the literature, techniques based on volume, huffing, and PEP were most prevalently performed in international centers. CONCLUSION: The most recommended treatment techniques for patients with CF in Brazil are huffing, HFOO, and PEP, followed by volume-based techniques. There were geographical variations in the preferred treatment techniques, as well as based on patient age, but not based on the level of pulmonary function.

Manual hyperinflation in airway clearance in pediatric patients: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To perform an assessment of the available literature on manual hyperinflation as a respiratory physical therapy technique used in pediatric patients, with the main outcome of achieving airway clearance. METHODS: We reviewed articles included in the Lilacs (Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences/Literatura Latino Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde), Cochrane Library, Medline (via Virtual Health Library and PubMed), SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library), and PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database) databases from 2002 to 2013 using the following search terms: "physiotherapy (techniques)", "respiratory therapy", "intensive care", and "airway clearance". The selected studies were classified according to the level of evidence and grades of recommendation (method of the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine) by two examiners, while a third examiner repeated the search and analysis and checked the classification of the articles. RESULTS: Three articles were included for analysis, comprising 250 children (aged 0 to 16 years). The main diagnoses were acute respiratory failure, recovery following heart congenital disease and upper abdominal surgery, bone marrow transplantation, asthma, tracheal reconstruction, brain injury, airway injury, and heterogeneous lung diseases. The studies were classified as having a level of evidence 2C and grade of recommendation C. CONCLUSIONS: Manual hyperinflation appeared useful for airway clearance in the investigated population, although the evidence available in the literature remains insufficient. Therefore, controlled randomized studies are needed to establish the safety and efficacy of manual hyperinflation in pediatric patients. However, manual hyperinflation must be performed by trained physical therapists only.