Study objective Palliative patients often visit the emergency department (ED) with respiratory
distress during their end-of-life period. The goal of management is alleviating dyspnea and
providing comfort. High-flow nasal cannula may be an alternative oxygen-delivering method
for palliative patients with do-not-intubate status. We therefore aim to compare the efficacy of
high-flow nasal cannula with conventional oxygen therapy in improving dyspnea of palliative
patients with do-not-intubate status who have hypoxemic respiratory failure in the ED …

Introduction: Patients with dyspnea and hypoxemia are common in emergency departments.
However, it is unknown whether high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) reduces the risk of
requiring more advanced ventilation support and whether HFNC relieves dyspnea better
than conventional oxygen therapy (COT). Areas covered: We searched the PubMed,
Cochrane Library, Ovid, and Embase databases from inception to 1 September 2019 to
identify relevant-randomized controlled trials comparing the effect of HFNC with COT in …