Subacute complications during recovery from severe traumatic brain injury: frequency and associations with outcome.

Background: Medical complications after severe traumatic brain injury (S-TBI) may delay or prevent transfer to rehabilitation units and impact on long-term outcome.

Objective: Mapping of medical complications in the subacute period after S-TBI and the impact of these complications on 1-year outcome to inform healthcare planning and discussion of prognosis with relatives.

Setting: Prospective multicentre observational study.

Communication experience of individuals treated with home mechanical ventilation.

Background: Mechanical ventilatory support seriously affects speaking and communication, and earlier studies show that many ventilator-supported patients experience difficulties and frustration with their speech and voice production. Since there is a growing number of individuals who require mechanical ventilatory support and there is a paucity of studies that examine ventilator-supported communication, this research area needs to be developed to ensure adequate health services for this population. The present study focused on ventilator-supported communication from the point of view of individuals receiving home mechanical ventilation (HMV).

The effect of long term ventilatory support on hemodynamics in children with spinal muscle atrophy (SMA) type II.

Background: Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure (Bi-PAP) treatment improves breathing efficiency and ventilation in children with SMA type II, but the effects of positive airway pressure swings on heart rate (HR) and blood pressure are not known. Here we studied children with SMA to determine whether Bi-PAP administered during sleep is associated with changes in hemodynamics.

Methods: Ten children aged 8-12 years on long term Bi-PAP therapy were evaluated during a routine overnight sleep study.

Long-term non-invasive positive airway pressure ventilation in infants.

Aim: To evaluate the clinical application of long-term non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in infants with life-threatening ventilatory failure with regard to: diagnosis, age at initiation, indication for and duration of treatment, clinical outcome and mortality and adverse effects.

Patients And Methods: The medical records of 18 infants treated in a home setting during a 7-year period were reviewed. The criteria for ventilatory support were: (a) transcutaneous partial pressures of carbon dioxide (TcPCO(2)) >6.

Clinical use and material wear of polymeric tracheostomy tubes.

Objectives: The objectives were to compare the duration of use of polymeric tracheostomy tubes, i.e., silicone (Si), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyurethane (PU), and to determine whether surface changes in the materials could be observed after 30 days of patient use.