CPAP and Mechanical Ventilation

Abstract

Respiratory insufficiency has previously been a frequent cause of neonatal death, especially in preterm infants. As late as in 1967, Silverman and associates (66) found that in infants with hyaline membrane disease (HMD), mechanical ventilation with a body-enclosing negative pressure respirator did not improve survival. Before 1970, the mortality among infants who required respiratory therapy was high (20;46;70). At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, several new methods were introduced to improve ventilation of newborn infants. Kirby and coworkers (41) introduced intermittent mandatory ventilation as a way of weaning from mechanical ventilation. In a series of studies, Reynolds and coworkers evaluated the effects of different peak airway pressures, respiratory frequencies, and inspiratory:expiratory ratios on arterial blood gases and right to left shunts (32;58;59;60).