Sensory interventions to relieve dyspnea in critically ill mechanically ventilated patients.

In MV patients, sensory interventions can modulate the processing of respiratory signals by the brain irrespective of the intensity of the neural drive to breathe. It should therefore be possible to alleviate dyspnea without resorting to pharmacological interventions or having to infringe the constraints of MV lung protection strategies by increasing ventilatory support.