[Home oxygen therapy].

Oxygen therapy is one of the principal non-pharmacologic treatments for severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Home oxygen therapy(HOT), or long-term oxygen therapy(LTOT) for 15 hours or more per day, can improve the survival rate of severe COPD patients with beneficial effects on hemodynamic state, hematological characteristic, exercise capacity, lung mechanics, and mental state. Oxygen therapy is indicated in cases of severe chronic respiratory failure with PaO2 of 55 Torr or less, or in cases with PaO2 of 60 Torr or less in whom there is remarkable hypoxia during sleep or during exercise. The induction of oxygen therapy needs evaluations of oxygen desaturation during exercise and sleep as well as hypoxia at rest. It also required to consider CO2 narcosis.