The Rapid-Rocking Bed: Its Effect on the Ventilation of Poliomyelitis Patients with Respiratory Paralysis

Abstract

RECENT improvements in the management of respiratory insufficiency in patients with acute poliomyelitis have considerably reduced mortality in this stage of the disease. As a result, increasing numbers of patients have required artificial respiration for long periods after the acute febrile stage of poliomyelitis has passed. Although tank-type "iron-lung" respirators are life-saving for acutely ill patients, their continued use over periods of many weeks or months is associated with certain disadvantages. These include fixation and fibrosis of the diaphragm, restriction of motion of the extremities and difficulty in inducing patients to rely on their own recovering ventilatory mechanisms. A device . . .