Transvenous Phrenic Nerve Stimulation: A Novel Therapy Gathering Pace

Morris and Ferguson discuss the multicenter open-label randomized clinical trial by M. Dres and colleagues on temporary transvenous diaphragm neurostimulation (TTDN). They randomized 112 patients for whom two spontaneous breathing trials had failed after at least 4 days of invasive mechanical ventilation to standard care or TTDN, 43 of whom actually were able to receive the intervention: the modified intention-to-treat population. They comment that the authors should be congratulated on the use of novel technology to tackle an important and common clinical problem.