Selecting a Suitable Portable Oxygen Carrier for Patients with Moderate to Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Difference between a Cylinder Cart and Backpack.

Long-term oxygen treatment (LTOT) has shown to increase survival in patients with COPD having chronic respiratory failure. It also appears to improve the health-relatedquality of life, increase exercise capacity, and reduce the number of hospitalizationsin patients with COPD. To obtain the maximum benefits of LTOT, patients with COPD are required to use their ambulatory oxygen systems at all times, even when outside. Therefore, ambulatory oxygen therapy is a common component of LTOT to maximize the number of hours per day of receiving oxygen as well as to maintain physical activity. Currently, LTOT users may choose among several portable oxygen devices (e.g., portable oxygen cylinders, portable oxygen concentrators, and liquid oxygen) and/or different transport carriers (e.g., cylinder cart, backpack, and shoulder bag). However, little is known about how to select a suitable ambulatory oxygen carrier for each patient with COPD having chronic respiratory failure.

Previous studies have suggested that differences among cylinder transport carriers affect the patient’s functional performance Pohle- Krauza et al. showed that the distance walked with a backpack was longer than that walked with a cylinder cart or shoulder bag in patients with COPD. In other studies on LTOT for COPD, Crisafulli et al. showed that patients with severe COPD could walk longer with a cylinder cart than those with a shoulder bag, while healthy controls could walk longer with a shoulder bag than with a cart. These results indicate that differences among ambulatory oxygen carriers can affect that patient’s performance in daily life. In addition, a proper carrier may depend on the pulmonary function of LTOT user.(Read More)