Is High Flow Nasal Cannula Superior to Conventional Oxygen Therapies in COVID-19 Induced Hypoxia and other Type II Respiratory Failures

COVID-19 belongs to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus family, which includes virus strains that cause the common cold and flu, and directly affect the lungs by damaging the alveoli, thus impairing gaseous exchange. It creates a condition of silent hypoxia; although each person's symptoms of silent hypoxia may differ, the most typical ones are wheezing, sweating, confusion, and change of lips and skin colour. This silent hypoxia condition can potentially cause irreparable damage to vital organs if left untreated. So we need to oxygenate the patient at the earliest. The goal of oxygenation is to maintain the saturated partial pressure of oxygen (SpO2) level between 92-96%. For this, we used various assisted breathing devices (ABDs); the most used devices for covid-19 treatment were oxygen therapy devices, continuous positive air pressure (CPAP), bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) devices and invasive ventilators. Where all conventional oxygen therapies are still effective, High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) stands one step ahead and is a helpful aid during covid times. HFNC provides warm and humidified oxygen with a high flow rate of up to 60-80 L/min, compared to the 15 L/min flow of conventional oxygen therapies. Thus oxygenation not only got better, but the treatment also became simple and painless since it is a non-invasive technique (NIV) technique. In covid times, HFNC reached many small hospitals. Due to its increased availability, even more clinicians have access to it now. They are using it to treat patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and acute respiratory failure (ARF) and get good results. HFNC is becoming a better substitute for standard oxygen therapies and NIV to manage patients suffering from hypoxemic ARF. HFNC also has some drawbacks associated with it. However, despite its weaknesses, increasing evidence base advocates HFNC therapy as a new, advanced, state-of-the-art and efficient method for the initial management of patients with respiratory failure.