Ventilator-Induced Hiccups

A male infant born at 36 weeks of gestation with cervical lymphangioma was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. He was mechanically ventilated while awaiting elective tracheostomy. Two days after birth, he was found to have hiccups, with each one occurring invariably at the end of inspiration (Figure). Neither sedatives nor decompressing the stomach by nasogastric tube suppressed the hiccups. They continued for an hour until the pressure control (PC) of the ventilator was decreased from 12 to 10 cm H2O, which immediately terminated the hiccups After cessation, increasing the PC instantaneously triggered hiccups; they were again terminated by dropping the PC to the baseline (Video; available at www.jpeds.com).

http://ift.tt/2uHiqwi