RESEARCH ARTICLE Non-invasive mechanical v o

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Pneumonia is the most common cause of death for all in-fectious diseases [1], and together, pneumonia and influ-enza comprise the eighth leading cause of death in the United States [2]. Much has been done to improve outcomes for patients with pneumonia, including the estab-lishment of national practice guidelines for community-acquired pneumonia [3]. However, less information is avail-able for immunocompromised patients. The immunocom-promised are at an increased risk of developing pneumonia [4] and have a higher pneumonia mortality rate [5]. Further, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Ameri-can Thoracic Society guidelines do not specifically address pneumonia amongst the immunocompromised [3]. Often, patients with severe pneumonia require endo-tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation, which is as-sociated with complications such as arrhythmia, infection, and other complications [6]. These complications may b