Prolonged per-laryngeal endotracheal intubation in children: 40 years on.

Because tracheostomy has a very high complication rate in small children, prolonged mechanical ventilation was not performed satisfactorily in infants until a technique was developed that allowed prolonged per-laryngeal endotracheal intubation in children. Plastic polyvinyl chloride endotracheal tubes were introduced in the 1950s; they soften at body temperature, and are much less likely to cause subglottic stenosis than endotracheal tubes made from metal or rubber. The first account of prolonged per-laryngeal intubation of infants using polyvinyl chloride tubes was written by Dr Bernard Brandstater, and this remarkable document is reproduced here.