Pediatric Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation: Considerations for Definitional Criteria

Therefore, we developed the following recommendations for the pediatric PMV definition: ≥ 21 consecutive days (after 37 weeks postmenstrual age) of ventilation for ≥ 6 h/d considering invasive ventilation and NIV and including short interruptions (< 48 h) of ventilation during the weaning process as the same episode of ventilation. We propose a definition of pediatric PMV that incorporates the number of consecutive days of mechanical ventilation while taking into account use of NIV and lung maturity and including short interruptions during the weaning process.