Adverse Effects
Five patients (25%) reported some mild adverse effects
that may have been related to the HFNC. The most common
(3 patients) was a sensation of cervical-thoracic discomfort
that appeared during the initial period of increasing
flow, and immediately disappeared when flow was
decreased. Another patient said that the gas temperature
was too high. In all the latter cases the effects appeared in
the initial few minutes of the testing period and had completely
disappeared by the end of the testing period. The
other patient who reported an adverse effect had nonspecific
nasal discomfort, and nasal mucosal lesions were detected
during HFNC use. On the other hand, mucosal lesions were
seen before HFNC in another patient, probably related to the
previous use of conventional nasal cannula.