Development in PaCO2 over 12 months in patients with COPD with persistent hypercapnic respiratory failure treated with high-flow nasal cannula-post-hoc analysis from a randomised controlled trial.

This post-hoc analysis indicates that HFNC stabilises patients with COPD with persistent hypoxic and hypercapnic failures, in terms of PaCO2, exacerbations and number of hospitalisations, whereas those not receiving HFNC worsened. This suggests that HFNC is a possible treatment for patients with persistent hypercapnic COPD.