Canadian researchers have conducted a randomised trial in 70 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) to determine the value of the air-stacking technique in interventional practice. This consists of recruiting, by means of an Ambu® for example, additional ventilatory territories with a view to better oxygenation:
- of the 66 patients who continued the trial to its end (two years), 36 benefited from this technique twice a day in addition to the usual respiratory management,
- the study of the ventilatory parameters (evolution of the vital capacity, peak-flow) did not show any significant difference between the treated and untreated groups.
However useful it may be, particularly for de-cluttering, this technique does not seem to be able to prevent the deterioration of vital capacity observed in DMD.
