Intermittent Positive Pressure-Aerosol Therapy in Pediatrics

¹ Director, Pediatric Research Dept., Lovelace Foundation for Medical Education and Research.
² Head, Dept., of Physiology, Lovelace Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

1. A method for the use in pediatrics of intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) therapy with supplementary use of bronchodilator drugs, antibiotic drugs, a wetting agent, and an enzymatic agent has been discused.

2. A plan of investigation for studies in children to determine the effectiveness of such therapy is reviewed.

3. A ventilation chart has been proposed to simplify the factor-impairment-cause relationship of pulmonary function.

4. An accurate evaluation of the degree of pulmonary function impairment in children has been made from the following physiological tests: pneumotachographs, timed vital capacity, residual capacity, RC/TC [See Formula in source PDF] and the nitrogen clearance equivalent.

5. It has been shown that IPPB-aerosol therapy in pediatrics has proved to be an adjunctive, a curative, and a prophylactic type of treatment in children with asthma, chronic coughs, bronchiectasis and bronchitis, cystic fibrosis of the pancreas, sinusitis and miscellaneous respiratory conditions.

6. Significant reversible changes, not heretofore seen in IPPB therapy in adults, have been noted in some children with chronic emphysema, with as much as 50 per cent decrease in the residual volume, 33 per cent increase in vital capacity, and 25 per cent decrease in nitrogen clearance ventilation.