Chest, Vol 84, 376-382, Copyright © 1983 by American College of Chest Physicians

ARTICLES

Home positive-pressure ventilation. Twenty years' experience

ML Splaingard, RC Frates Jr, GM Harrison, RE Carter and LS Jefferson

We studied retrospectively 26 adults and 21 children with chronic respiratory failure whose condition was managed at home using positive- pressure ventilators in order to ascertain the outcome, benefits, and complications of this form of management. Twenty-six (55 percent) of the patients had injuries to the spinal cord. Among the 47 patients, nine were eventually weaned from the ventilator, and two died at home because of disconnection from their ventilators. Using life-table analysis, projected three-year survival was 74 percent for patients without spinal injury and 63 percent for patients with spinal injury. Mortality was greater for children than for adults. For a majority of patients, the cost of management at home was significantly less than management in the hospital, depending largely on the level of nursing care required. We suggest that mechanical ventilation at home may be a reasonable alternative to prolonged hospitalization for medically stable ventilator-dependent adults and children.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. MEHTA and N. S. HILL Noninvasive Ventilation Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., February 1, 2001; 163(2): 540 - 577. [Full Text]

				K. D. Nantwi, A. A. El-Bohy, G. W. Schrimsher, P. J. Reier, and H. G. Goshgarian Spontaneous Functional Recovery in a Paralyzed Hemidiaphragm Following Upper Cervical Spinal Cord Injury in Adult Rats Neurorehabil Neural Repair, December 1, 1999; 13(4): 225 - 234. [Abstract] [PDF]