Negative pressure artificial respiration: use in treatment of respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn.

Forty-five newborn infants in respiratory failure with respiratory distress syndrome were treated with intermittent negative pressure ventilation (INPV). There was a survival rate of 38% (17/45).All infants were initially treated without nasotracheal intubation. However, 24 of these developed a Paco(2) greater than 70 mm. Hg and were subsequently intubated. Intubation was followed by a decrease in the degree of hypercarbia in each instance and simultaneous increase in Pao(2).COMPLICATIONS ENCOUNTERED DURING VENTILATION WERE: emphysema (one patient), aspiration pneumonia (two patients), septicemia (two patients), misplaced nasotracheal tube (one patient).Follow-up of the 17 surviving patients for periods of four to 36 months disclosed two patients with post-intubation hoarseness. One infant initially had spastic quadriplegia with EEG abnormalities, both of which cleared by 5 months of age. In the remaining 14 infants, the results of physical, neurological and psychological examinations have remained within normal limits.