Valores de presión espiratoria mantenida en la vía aérea como indicador de tolerancia al uso de válvula de fonación en pacientes traqueostomizados

introduction: speaking valve (sv) is an unidirectional flow device installed over the tracheostomy tube allowing phonation. tolerance to this device depends on the permeability of the upper airway (ua), which may be indirectly assessed by measuring ua maintained expiratory pressure (pemant). objective: to evaluate the usefulness of the maintained expiratory pressure as a clinical indicator of tolerance to the sv. method: twenty three tracheostomized patients (median age 22 months-old) were evaluated with an aneroid manometer during 15 minutes, recording pemant, arterial oxygen saturation (sao2),heart rate, respiratory rate, accessory muscle use and wheezing as signs of respiratory distress results: pemant values less than 10 cmh2o are associated with tolerance of the sv and values over 20 cmh2o are associated with intolerance. conclusion: values under 10 cmh2o of pemant can be used as an indicator of tolerance to vf.