An RCT to compare high flow nasal cannula with standard nasal cannula to prevent desaturation in subjects undergoing EBUS-TBNA: HIFLO-EBUS trial

Background and objective Oxygen desaturation events occur commonly during Endobronchial endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) guided-transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) performed under conscious sedation. We hypothesized that high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) would be superior to conventional nasal cannula (NC) in preventing these hypoxemic episodes. Methods We randomized consecutive subjects ≥18 years undergoing EBUS-TBNA to receive oxygen with HFNC or NC. The primary objective was to compare the proportion of subjects experiencing oxygen desaturation events (defined as SPO2 Results We randomized 300 subjects (150 in each arm). The mean ± SD age of the study population (129 [43%] females) was 46.5 ± 14 years. The proportion of subjects experiencing clinically significant hypoxemic episodes was significantly (P Conclusion HFNC during EBUS reduced the number of subjects experiencing clinically significant hypoxemia, the number of desaturation events, and improved patient comfort compared to conventional oxygen therapy.