Heart : official journal of the British Cardiac Society
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To investigate the effects of cuirass negative pressure ventilation on the cardiac output of a group of anaesthetised children after occlusion of an asymptomatic persistent arterial duct, and a group of paediatric patients in the early postoperative period following cardiopulmonary bypass. ⋯ While offering similar ventilatory efficiency to positive pressure ventilation, cuirass negative pressure ventilation led to a modest improvement in the cardiac output of healthy children, and to a greater increase in postoperative patients. There are important cardiopulmonary interactions in normal children and in children after cardiopulmonary bypass, and by having beneficial effects on these interactions, negative pressure ventilation has haemodynamic advantages over conventional positive pressure ventilation.