[WeanNet: The Network of Respiratory Weaning Centers].

Invasive ventilation via endotracheal tube as access to the airways often is treatment of choice of acute respiratory failure. Multifactor-related increases the number of patients who are dependent on the ventilator for a longer period. The prolonged weaning (or "liberation") from mechanical ventilation therefore has an increasing importance.In Germany since the 90s of the last century, weaning units have been established in lung clinics. With the aim of achieving the highest possible quality of treatment in these weaning centers, the network "WeanNet" was founded in 2007 within the German Society of Pneumology and Respiratory Medicine (DGP). The structure, process and result quality of the weaning centers is reviewed as part of a certification process. By October 2018, 53 weaning centers had been certified.Important statements and recommendations on treatment strategies in prolonged weaning were published in 2014 in the sK2 guideline "Prolonged Weaning" under the leadership of DGP.In 2016, the WeanNet Study Group published data on the outcome of 6899 prolonged weaning patients from the WeanNet registry. The majority of patients (62 %) were successfully weaned from the respirator. Non-invasive ventilation after prolonged weaning was required in approximately 19 % of patients caused by chronic ventilatory insufficiency.Due to the increasing number of patients and the associated challenges in the field of intra- and ex-hospital respiratory medicine, "WeanNet" is available to the healthcare sector as a future-oriented discussion partner. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.