Andrew V. Morenkov, Olga M. Perminova, Elena V. Morenkova
Institute of Clinical Immunology, 14 Yadrintsevskaya Str., Novosibirsk, 630091 , Russia
Aim: Stenotic laringotracheites with children under 3 are a common pathology that, given pulmonary insufficiency, requires intensive care. When drug therapy proves inefficient, trachea intubation is used for the term of 2 or 3 days to restore respiration and to ensure conservative treatment, which is less harmful than tracheotomy. However, certain patients have to undergo lasting intubation, which, given the specifics of the pathological process characteristic of those patients, may lead to pulmonary insufficiency during the extubation procedure. Due to insufficient efficacy of modern methods used to discontinue long-term intubation, we have developed, on the basis of Chinese original sources, acupupressure techniques to be employed during extubafion.
Method: Patients were administered treatment according to modern standards used in intensive care units. In the period between 1994 – 1997 there have been 7 cases of prolonged intubation that lasted 10 – 26 days involving 6 children, age 3 months – 18 months. Diagnosis and treatment were based on the system of “childrens” acupuncture points, the follow-up assessment included monitoring kinesthetic changes in the acupoints Tiantu, Xinjiang, Feijin, Shenshui. Acupressure procedures started 3 – 5 minutes before extubation and to continue for 1,5 – 4 hours after the tube removal, depending on the absence of the tendency for the pulmonary insufficiency to increase. In 3 cases extubation