Ventilatory management of neonates undergoing surgery. A review of the first 3 years' experience in a neonatal surgical intensive care unit.

The results of the ventilatory management of babies, obtained in the first 3 years of a neonatal surgical intensive care unit, are assessed. Overall mortality figures and detailed examination of the cause of death in individual diagnostic groups support a selective approach to intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) based mainly on clinical criteria. The adoption of a policy of prophylactic IPPV after operation would achieve virtually no improvement in mortality.