ArticleAnnals of thoracic medicine
Humidification during mechanical ventilation to prevent endotracheal tube occlusion in critically ill patients: A case control study.
Article in Annals of thoracic medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Paediatric Long-Term Home Respiratory Support: Recommendations of the Swiss Society of Paediatric Pulmonology.Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases · 2026Guideline
- Article
- The LoVe score: Development and validation of a bedside clinical index to identify patients at risk for prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation.Journal of the Intensive Care Society · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEndotracheal tube (ETT) occlusion is a potentially life-threatening event. This study describes a quality improvement project to prevent ETT occlusion in critically ill patients.
methodsAfter a cluster of clinically significant ETT occlusion incidents at a tertiary-care intensive care unit (ICU), the root cause analysis suggested that the universal use of heat moisture exchangers (HMEs) was a major cause. Then, we prospectively audited new ETT occlusion incidents after changing our practices to evidence-based active and passive humidification during mechanical ventilation (MV). We also compared the outcomes of affected patients with matched controls.
resultsDuring 100 weeks, 18 incidents of clinically significant ETT occlusion occurred on a median of 7 days after intubation (interquartile range, 4.8-9.5): 8 in the 10 weeks before and 10 in the 90 weeks after changing humidification practices (8.1 vs. 1.0 incidents per 1000 ventilator days, respectively). The incidents were not suspected in 94.4%, the peak airway pressure was >30 cm H
conclusionsThe rate of ETT occlusion decreased after changing humidification practices from universal HME use to evidence-based active and passive humidification. ETT occlusion was associated with more tracheostomy and a longer duration of MV and ICU stay.
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Registered trials
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