212 cases of acute respiratory failure treated with mechanical ventilation were reviewed. The most common underlying diseases were severe pneumonia (72 cases)

Jntracranial lesions (40 cases)

post-operative support (16 cases). The overall mortality rate was 36.7% (82/212). The mortality rate of intubation and mechanical ventilation during CPR (63.3%) was much higher than that of selective intubation (28.9%)

which had significant difference(X=21.4

p<0.01).It is unwise to intubate and ventilate achild until he is dying. The average duration of ventilation support was 6.67 days(l hour to 72 days). 38 of 42 prolonged nasotracheal intubations(raore than 1 week) were survived. Among them 19 showed no severe sequela during long-time foilowup. This reveals that the polyvinylchloride endotracheal tubes can be kept in place for 1 to several weeks