A follow-up of the survivors of mechanical ventilation in a paediatric intensive care unit.

Fifty-eight long-term survivors of mechanical ventilation have been traced and examined for evidence of auditory, visual, behavioural, developmental and central nervous system abnormalities. There were four children with serious neurological or intellectual handicaps, the causes of which did not seem to be related to deficiencies of their ventilator treatment but rather to events preceding ventilation or to the disease which had necessitated ventilation. There were an additional eight children who may have some intellectual damage. The occurrence of convulsions or hypoxic episodes during or preceding the period of treatment was significantly more common among the 12 children with a poor outcome, than those with a good outcome.