The management of a young woman with congenital kyphoscoliosis, who developed symptomatic nocturnal hypoventilation during the third trimester of pregnancy, is described. Nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) was safely and effectively used to correct nocturnal hypoxaemia and hypercapnia from the 30th-36th week of gestation, when a healthy boy was delivered by Caesarean secti...

We investigated the long-term effectiveness of cuirass-assisted ventilation, and examined whether mortality and morbidity could have been predicted at the time of admittance. Twenty five patients were commenced on nocturnal cuirass-assisted ventilation between 1983 and 1985, 10 with scoliosis or kyphosis, 8 with a thoracoplasty and 7 with neuromuscular disease. Mean pretreatment vital capacity ...

It is interesting to speculate on the possible applications of noninvasive ventilatory devices to a broader group of pulmonary problems. Recently, two groups have reported successfully utilizing nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation to stabilize patients with cystic fibrosis awaiting lung ‘#{176}“ What future role might NIV play in organ transplantation? Maybe Conwell is right: the j...

Respiratory muscle weakness is an uncommon cause of chronic respiratory failure and a rare cause of cor pulmonale. The problem may not be apparent unless specific physical signs are sought or appropriate investigations performed. We present three patients who presented diagnostic difficulty for prolonged periods until the presence of respiratory muscle weakness was considered. Once the diagnosi...