title: Outcomes following mechanical ventilation in children undergoing bone marrow transplantation.
abstract: Between 1976 and 1992, 869 patients <19 years of age underwent BMT at the University of Minnesota for a variety of malignant and non-malignant disorders. One hundred and ninety-six required mechanical ventilation (MV) at some time from the start of pre-BMT cyto reduction through the first year following BMT. Reasons for MV included respiratory compromise, upper airway management and non-pulmonary indications for respiratory support. In multivariate models, underlying diagnosis, receipt of HLA-mismatched marrow and the presence of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) were independent predictors of the need for MV. Indication for MV, underlying diagnosis, and presence of aGVHD were independent predictors of successful extubation. Overall survival at 2 years was 14% among MV patients and 52% among non-MV patients. While the need for MV during BMT reduces the overall likelihood of survival, 40% of children who required MV were successfully extubated; 35% of these extubated patients were long-term survivors. This outcome is better than that reported for adult BMT patients requiring respiratory support, who show survival of <5% at 6 months following BMT. Our data suggest extrapolation of outcome data from adult to pediatric patients is not appropriate and aggressive care of pediatric patients requiring respiratory support is not futile.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 53226, USA.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Warwick
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Mertens
authors.forename: X O
authors.initials: XO
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Ramsay
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Neglia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis