Journal Article

High-Frequency Oscillatory Ventilation for the Prevention of Chronic Lung Disease of Prematurity

Peacock, Janet L, Greenough, Anne, Limb, Elizabeth S, Johnson, Alice H, Marston, Louise, Marlow, Neil, Calvert, Sandra A

2002

Overview

Respiratory distress is common in premature infants. Many of these infants require mechanical ventilatory support for the first few weeks of life, but the best way to deliver this support is not known. In this randomized trial performed in the United Kingdom, there was no difference between the two ventilatory strategies in terms of survival, the need for oxygen treatment at 28 days of life, or other benefits or complications of ventilation. In this trial in very preterm infants, there was no difference between two ventilatory strategies in preventing lung disease. Pulmonary disease continues to be a major cause of illness and death in very preterm infants. Despite the introduction of a number of therapeutic interventions, the incidence of chronic lung disease remains high among such infants. Pulmonary immaturity, high ventilator pressure, and oxygen toxicity are major risk factors for chronic lung disease whose frequency could be reduced through the use of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation. Such ventilation involves the application of rapid oscillatory pressure — at 5 to 15 Hz, or 300 to 900 breaths per minute — superimposed on a continuous distending pressure. Although studies in animals have shown that . . .

• Publisher: Massachusetts Medical Society
• Subject: Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy / Babies / Biological and medical sciences / Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia - etiology / Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia - prevention & control / Emergency and intensive care: neonates and children. Prematurity. Sudden death / Equipment Design / Female / High-Frequency Ventilation - adverse effects / Humans / Infant, Newborn / Infant, Premature / Intensive care medicine / Intracranial Hemorrhages / Lungs / Male / Medical sciences / Oxygen Inhalation Therapy / Premature birth / Respiration, Artificial - adverse effects / Respiratory diseases / Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn - mortality / Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn - physiopathology / Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn - therapy / Survival Analysis