Intrapulmonary percussive ventilation, indication, clinical experience and patient opinion

In the United States Intrapulmonary Percussive Ventilation (IPV) is a well-established treatment to support airway clearance in patients with severe airway obstruction from tenacious sputum. It is used in patients with bronchiectasis as well as in COPD or neuromuscular disease. Despite the known benefits IPV is rarely applied in Germany because of the high technical and personnel expenditure. On the basis of ten cases we present the indications, the clinical effects and the patients experience. These preliminary results support the addition of IPV to the standard therapy of bronchiectasis as a very effective method to increase the quality of life of our patients.