[Invasive and non-invasive home ventilation--changes between 1982 and 1996].

Patients And Methods: In our centre, 111 patients with chronic ventilatory insufficiency (33 females, 78 males, age 48 +/- 18 years, range 3 to 76 years) were treated by intermittent positive pressure ventilation between 1982 and 1996. Underlying diseases were neuromuscular diseases in 29%, sleep-related hypoventilation in 26%, kyphoscoliosis in 15%, chronic obstructive airway disease in 15%, and post-tuberculosis syndromes in 12%. Singular indications were 1 bronchiectasis, 1 lung fibrosis and 1 cystic fibrosis.

Results: Until 1991, most patients were ventilated via tracheostoma (10 of 16), in the following years 87 of 95 patients could be ventilated via a nasal or facial mask. Ventilation mode was a controlled one in 80 patients and an assisted one in 31 patients, average ventilation time during night was 6 to 8 hours. In the majority of patients hypercapnia was not only removed during ventilation but also at daytime as an indicator of improvement of ventilatory insufficiency accomplished by a clearly better quality of life and daytime activity. Ten patients (9%) died due to their underlying diseases, 5 of them in the first year of intermittent ventilation.