RELIEF OF CARDIAC DYSPNEA BY DRINKER RESPIRATOR

The chief use of the Drinker respirator in the past has been in the treatment of respiratory weakness or paralysis. It has been employed most often in the treatment of two types of patients: (1) adults and children suffering from respiratory weakness due to anterior poliomyelitis and (2) new-born infants suffering from birth asphyxia. During the observation of patients in both of these groups, one of us (D. P. M.) has been struck by the apparently beneficial effect of artificial respiration on the circulation. The rate and volume of the pulse of adults has been improved greatly by the treatment, and the cardiac action of new-born infants has been improved and maintained for long periods without spontaneous respiration taking place. Such clinical observations and additional experimental ones on asphyxiated animals have suggested that the respirator might be of some value in the treatment of patients in whom the failure of