Neurally adjusted ventilation assist in weaning difficulty: First case report from India

Invasive mechanical ventilation is an integral component in the management of critically ill patients. In certain situations, liberation from mechanical ventilation becomes difficult resulting in prolonged ventilation. Patient-ventilator dyssynchrony is a frequently encountered reason for difficult weaning. Neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) is a novel mode of ventilation that utilizes the electrical activity of diaphragm to pick up respiratory signals and delivers assistance in proportion to the ventilatory requirement of a patient. It may, therefore, be associated with a better patient-ventilator synchrony thereby facilitating weaning. Herein, we report the first case from India describing the use of NAVA in successfully weaning a patient with difficult weaning.