[Procedural options in the prescription of outpatient intensive care and potential assessment in children and adolescents.].

The care and treatment of children and adolescents requiring long-term ventilation pursues several overarching goals and is ideally carried out through interdisciplinary collaboration within an experienced, multidisciplinary team.In children and adolescents, neuromuscular diseases resulting in respiratory insufficiency are the primary cause of long-term dependence on a ventilator. In addition to the diseases that necessitate long-term ventilation, airway obstructions, trauma, malformations associated with genetic syndromes, and, rarely, insufficient secretion clearance or severe dysphagia with aspiration in spontaneously breathing patients are indications for tracheotomy. For many of these congenital diseases, the disease course and prognosis do not inherently suggest any potential for weaning or decannulation.Consequently, some of the measures and examinations required by the German Federal Joint Committee's (GBA) guidelines on outpatient intensive care may be unnecessary or even contraindicated in children and adolescents.