Home Mechanical Ventilation in Children: Erciyes University Experience

Objective: In this study it was aimed to share experiences and to draw attention to the problems about home mechanical ventilation (HMV) which is used in the treatment of patients with chronic respiratory failure and is increasingly becoming widespread all over the world.\udMaterials and Methods: The medical records of the patients having HMV due to chronic respiratory failure between January 2009 and March 2016 at Erciyes University Medical Faculty Pediatric Intensive Care Unit were retrospectively analyzed.\udResults: Twenty nine patients (14 males, 15 females) with a median age of 29 months (8.5-127.5) to start HMV application were included in this study. The median hospitalization time of the patients was 75 days (44-115) and the median follow up time after discharge was 110 days (52.5-510). Twenty-five (86.2%) patients had been followed up due to neurologic diseases, 4 patients (13.8%) due to lung diseases. Twenty five (86.2%) patients (13 males, 12 females) with a median age of 17 month (8-93) received invasive mechanical ventilation and 4 (13.8%) patients (2 males, 2 females) with a median age of 162 month (73.5-189) received non-invasive mechanical ventilation.\udConclusion: In our country pediatric intensive care bed capacity is limited and HMV is a good option for alleviating the burden of chronic patients