title: Role of non-invasive ventilation in difficult-to-wean children with acute neuromuscular disease.
abstract: Weaning from mechanical ventilation in children could be time-consuming and on many occasions, leads to reintubation with its associate complications. We report two children with acute neuromuscular disease, in whom bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP) as a mode of non-invasive ventilation was successfully used to wean the child from ventilators and prevented the need for tracheostomy. Despite the limited number of studies published in the literature suggesting BiPAP as a mode of weaning from mechanical ventilation, the technique when applied correctly seems to be safe and effective in weaning and avoiding tracheostomy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, College of Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, PO Box 35, PC 123-SQU, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. venu@squ.edu.om
authors.forename: V G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bataclan
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002648:Child; D004673:Encephalomyelitis, Acute Disseminated / Q000628:therapy; D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D011175:Positive-Pressure Respiration; D015300:Ventilator Weaning