The use of inverted tent in home oxygen therapy: a clinical case

Abstract

Home oxygen programmes have been developed to facilitate the discharge of children with oxygen dependent chronic lung disease. There are a variety of delivery systems depending on the clinical condition, oxygen requirements and other associated factors. We describe a 3 year old patient with Down’s syndrome who had bronchopulmonary dysplasia and obstructive sleep apnoea who suffered from severe nocturnal hypoxemia due to intolerance of nasal canula and other devices. He was suited to an inverted tent for nocturnal oxygen supply. The tent is made of plastic into which oxygen is flowed via a venturi like system and fed by an oxygen concentrator, improve oxygen saturation from 87 ± 3 to 95 ± 3% was obtained. The system is simple, safe, convenient and economically fabricated from clear plastic sheeting available from a local hardware store. We suggest that the tent may play a role in oxygen dependent patients with craneo-facial malformations and intolerance to conventional devices.