Respiratory Failure in Poliomyelitis

Abstract

Of all the experiences that the physician must undergo, none can be more distressing than to watch respiratory paralysis in a child ill with poliomyelitis\p=m-\to watch him as he becomes more and more dyspneic, using with increasing vigor every available accessory muscle of neck, shoulder and chin, silent, wasting no breath for speech, wide-eyed and frightened, conscious almost to the last breath. When Professor Drinker first developed his machine for artificial respiration to a practical point in 1928, the staff of the hospital, of course, were more than willing to give him an opportunity to use it on such a child. His experience with that child was reported at the time.1The Drinker respirator has now frequently been described, and the results of its action on numerous patients reported.2 Briefly, it consists of an air-tight metal chamber in which a patient can be conveniently placed so that the head protrudes through a flat, soft, rubber collar, which is attached to the front of the machine, and which fits comfortably