Airway clearance

What is airway clearance?

This therapy is for patients who cannot expel their pulmonary secretions because they have muscular dystrophy, myasthenia gravis, polio or another neurological disorder that causes paralysis of the respiratory muscles (for example, a spinal cord injury).

It can also be used in the treatment of an ineffective cough due to other illnesses, such as emphysema, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis.

Airway clearance therapy can be administered through two techniques:

• High-frequency chest wall oscillation system.
• Mechanically assisted coughing system (mechanical insufflation-exsufflation).

Airway clearance techniques

Airway clearance resources