BACKGROUND:Despite aggressive conventional ventilation respiratory failure is still an issue in some infants. One mode of continuing therapy in units without Extra Corporal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is the use of High Frequency Jet Ventilation (HFJV).

OBJECTIVE: To determine the medical and developmental outcome of 18 infants, born over a two year period who survived after HFJV; all infants met the ECMO criteria for intervention.

METHOD: Developmental (Griffiths Scale of Mental Development) and neurological evaluations were performed three monthly (18/18). Charts were reviewed for the medical status and a parental telephone survey was completed(16/18).

RESULTS: The mean (± SD) developmental quotients at 18 months were in the normal range (99.1 ± 17). The subquotients reflect a similar pattern except for a greater standard deviation in gross motor (103.1± 22.9) and hearing/language (96.8 ± 20.8). Data may reflect the two children who showed signs of mild cerebral palsy and three children with sensorineural hearing loss. Four infants had mild asthma-like symptoms: two of these have been rehospitalized for short stays. Four experienced recurrent otitis media, with two requiring ventilation tubes.

CONCLUSION: In this study, the rate of major disability after HFJV is lower than that found in other high-risk populations, except in the area of auditory impairment.