Figure 2

Study design. First all patients with ACPE were examined at the emergency department by a cardiologist and depending on his findings transferred to CCU or ICU. The control group consisted of all patients admitted to our hospital with ACPE over a one year period. The BCPAP group covered all patients with ACPE over a two year period. Note the considerable shift of ICU admissions to CCU admissions in the BCPAP group (p < 0.001). The number of patients treated with BCPAP in the control group was zero since this option was then not available.