Post-ICU mechanical ventilation : Treatment of 1,123 Patients at a regional weaning center

To update our database, reporting changes in the results of weaning attempts and profile of patients transferred to us after prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) in the ICU. Retrospective record review, with prospective recording of physiologic measurements on admission from mid-1994. Regional weaning center (RWC). We studied 1,123 consecutive ventilator-dependent patients transferred for attempted weaning over an 8-year period. Median (range) time of mechanical ventilation prior to transfer to the RWC declined from 37 (1 to 249) days in 1988 to 29 (1 to 120) days in 1996 (p