Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 13, 576-584, Copyright © 1966 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

Artificial Ventilation in Infants and Young Children Using a New Ventilator With The T-piece

¹ Department of Anaesthesia, The Children's Hospital of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba

A comparison has been made between the Ohio DeLuxe ventilator with paediatric bellows, and manual control of respiration with the T-piece technique in infants and small children undergoing surgery. Although rebreathing is common when controlled respiration is used with the T-piece in this way, hyperventilation can still be achieved by raising minute volume. Rebreathing is less with slower respiratory rates and significantly less with the ventilator than the hand.

Lowering the fresh gas flow increases the degree of rebreathing: 150 ml./lb. body weight per minute appears adequate with a lower limit of 3 L./min. Loss of effective tidal volume due to distension of tubing in the T-piece can be very important, especially in the newborn, where the bellows setting should never be less than 50 ml. Generally a setting of four times the body weight in pounds is adequate for older children. This ventilator is convenient and effective to use with the T-piece, even in small infants.

Note:

Presented in condensed form at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Anaesthetists' Society at Banff, June 6 to 10, 1966. Work supported in part by Dominion-Provincial Grant no. 606-7-92.