Long-term Care for Ventilator-dependent Children

The authors from Oakland Children’s Hospital and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, Calif., report a case series of all children who were discharged between 1980 and 2000 needing home mechanical ventilation that was initiated before their 6th birthday. Forty-six patients were identified and 7 were lost to follow-up. Data were collected from initial discharge till June 2001. Of the 39 children, 28 were boys. Twenty-three children had neuromuscular diseases and 16 had spinal cord injury (14 C₂ level, 1 C₃, and 1 C_4,5). Eight children died over the study period. They had, on average, been treated with a mechanical ventilator for 11 years. Half had spinal cord injuries and half had neuromuscular diseases. Seven lived at home on a ventilator for less than a year. Two died from ventilator disconnection. The average age when surviving children started mechanical ventilation was 25 …