Intratracheal pulmonary ventilation in premature infants and children with intractable hypercapnia.

The feasibility of intratracheal pulmonary ventilation (ITPV) was tested in five ventilated moribund neonatal and pediatric patients with uncontrollable hypercapnia: a 2-year-old child, a 52-day-old infant, and three premature infants (29, 29, and 26 weeks gestation; 1300 g, 1100 g and 890 g birth weight, respectively). ITPV was applied for 9.5, 8, 25, 58.5, and 47.5 hr, respectively. An intratracheal catheter (Cook Critical Care, Inc., Bloomington, IN) with a reversed continuous flow of gas at its tip (away from the lungs) allowed flushing of CO2 from the proximal dead space. Marked reductions in Paco2, ranging from 37% to 71% and improvement in pH were achieved within 4-6 hr of applying ITPV. During ITPV, the mean lowest Paco2 was significantly less than the pre-ITPV Paco2 (p < 0.0017), and the mean best pH was significantly higher than the pre-ITPV pH (p < 0.015). In four patients, despite significant reductions in Paco2, there was no substantial improvement in their baseline condition (shock and severe metabolic acidosis or coma) and they were switched back to conventional ventilation. This led to worsening hypercapnia to pre-ITPV values. These four patients subsequently died. It is possible that these patients were already too ill to derive significant benefit from the technique. One premature infant survived, was successfully weaned to conventional ventilation and was eventually discharged home. ITPV can alleviate uncontrollable hypercapnia in ventilated neonatal and pediatric patients.