Objective: To describe the results of a seven years experience using home oxygen therapy in children with hypoxemia and chronic lung disease. Patients and methods: This is a retrospective and descriptive study carried out at Hospital da Criança Santo Antônio - Porto Alegre-RS, Southern Brazil. The characteristics of the children on home oxygen therapy from January/93 to January/00 were analyzed. Results: Out of the 40 patients studied, 29 (72.5%) were males. At the beginning of home oxygen therapy, the age of the patients ranged from two months to 13 years and six months (mean: 24.8; median: 13), and 18 of them (45%) were less than one year old. The most frequent diseases were: obliterative bronchiolitis (31 cases; 77.5%); chronic obstructive lung disease with aspiration pneumonia (three cases); hypogammaglobulinaemia (two cases); suppurative lung disease (two cases), alveolar proteinosis (one case) and tuberculosis (one case). The length of the last hospitalization before home oxygen therapy was started ranged from nine to 240 days (mean: 63.7 days; median: 50 days). Most of the patients (30; 75%) received oxygen from a concentrator and the remainder from a cylinder. Mean oxygen therapy length ranged from 27 to 1,620 days (median: 392.5 days). There were five deaths from complications of the basic disease and one from accidental removal of the tracheostomy tube. Oxygen use could be discontinued in 19 patients - 15 with obliterative bronchiolitis, two with chronic aspiration pneumonia, one with tuberculosis and one with alveolar proteinosis. Conclusion: Although oxygen was needed for long periods, evolution was satisfactory in most children. Home oxygen for oxygen-dependent is an alternative treatment that allows an early discharge and a quick return to home life.

Keywords: Oxygen inahalation therapy. Anoxemia. Lung obstructive diseases. Home treatment.