Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation offers greater improvement in COPD-related respiratory failure when combined with naloxone

To improve efficacy of non invasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV), this study investigated the combination of NPPV with naloxone in COPD patients with respiratory failure. One hundred four patients with COPD-related respiratory failure were enrolled prospectively and randomly divided into a control group treated with NPPV alone (n = 52) and an observation group treated with NPPV combined with 4.0 mg naloxone by continuous infusion (n = 52). At 3 and 5 days after the start of treatment, the respiratory mechanics, pulmonary function, and oxygen metabolism parameters were significantly improved in the NPPV + naloxone group compared to the NPPV alone group (p<0.05). Further, the improvements in the NPPV plus naloxone group were greater at day 5 than at day 3 (p<0.05). These findings indicate that noninvasive positive pressure ventilation combined with naloxone can more effectively improve respiratory mechanics, pulmonary function and oxygen metabolism of COPD patients with respiratory failure than NPPV alone, offering a new treatment approach.