Clinical utility of prognostic scoring systems in patients with hematological malignancies who require mechanical ventilation

Abstract

Patients with hematological malignancies can develop acute respiratory failure (ARF) due to lung injury by chemotherapeutic agents and blood product transfusion, infection, neuromuscular weakness, and fluid overload. At the time of ICU admission, it can be difficult to predict which of these patients will benefit from invasive mechanical ventilation and will survive their episode of ARF. In this chapter, we review prognostic scoring systems that have been applied to this set of clinical circumstances, the results of studies evaluating mortality risk factors for critically ill patients with hematological malignancies, and unanswered questions regarding the provision of invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilatory support to these patients.