PROGNOSIS OF NEONATES WITH SYMPTOMATIC RESPIRATORY INSUFFICIENCY SURVIVING WITH THE AID OF VENTILATOR THERAPY

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Abstract
Survivors (21) representing all survivors of neonatal symptomatic respiratory distress treated with intermittent positive pressure ventilation were followed-up at an age of 2.9-7.0 yr. The chance of survival was relatively favorable in infants ventilated for perinatal pneumonias and unfavorable in infants ventilated for hemorrhagic diseases and respiratory insufficiency secondary to surgical conditions. At the follow-up 50% of the children presented with neurological symptoms but only 10% were severely handicapped. One infant had a tracheostomy due to a laryngeal stenosis, while none developed broncho-pulmonary dysplasia. The late prognosis seemed unfavorable when the children suffered from severe birth asphyxia and in infants ventilated for prolonged recurrent apneic spells. The relation between the clinical indications for ventilator therapy and later outcome is obscured by a vast number of complicating perinatal events.