Chest physiotherapy using vibration and percussion techniques does not reduce length of hospital stay, oxygen requirements, or reduce symptoms in infants with acute bronchiolitis who are not being ventilated and don’t have any other accompanying illness.
Bronchiolitis is a viral infection of the airways in the lungs, and is a major cause of medical emergencies during winter in children under two years of age. Tackling this disease makes heavy use of healthcare resources.
The standard treatment involves making sure the child has enough oxygen, fluid and food, and possibly using bronchiodilators and steroids.
In addition, some doctors have tried using a variety of different methods of chest physiotherapy to help clear secretions from the trachea and bronchial passages in the lungs.
Other doctors, however, worry that this may cause additional suffering without bringing substantial benefit.
Drawing data from three studies (two from the UK, one from Argentina) the Cochrane Review Authors concluded that they could not recommend chest physiotherapy using either percussion or vibration techniques for use with these children.
“It would be interesting to study the effects of using chest physiotherapy in an outpatient situation,” says lead author Dr Carla Perrotta, who works at the Centre of Epidemiology Research at the National Academy of Medicine, Buenos Aires, Argentina.