Abstract
Background: To evaluate the effect of low-dose exogenous surfactant therapy on infants suffering acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) after cardiac surgery. Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study of infants diagnosed with moderate-severe ARDS after cardiac surgery. A case was defined as a patient that received surfactant and standard therapy, while a control was defined as a patient that underwent standard therapy. The primary endpoint was the improvement in oxygenation index (OI) after 24-hour of surfactant treatment; and secondary endpoints were the ventilator time and PICU time. Results: 22 infants treated with surfactant were matched with 22 controls. Early low-dose (20mg/kg) surfactant treatment was associated with improved outcomes. After surfactant administration for 24-hour, the surfactant group was much better compared with the control group at the 24-hour in OI (difference in average change from baseline, -6.7 [95% CI, -9.3 to -4.1]) (P < 0.01) and VI (mean difference, -11.9 [95% CI, -18.1 to -5.7]) (P < 0.01). Ventilation time and PICU time were significantly shorter in the surfactant group compared with the control group (133.6h±27.2 vs 218.4h±28.7, P < 0.01 ; 10.7d±5.1 vs 17.5d±6.8, P < 0.01). Infants in the surfactant group under 3 months benefit more from OI and VI than the infants over 3 months in a preliminary exploratory analysis.Conclusions: In infants with moderate-severe ARDS after cardiac surgery, early low-dose exogenous surfactant treatment could prominently improve oxygenation and reduce mechanical ventilation time and PICU time. Infants younger than 3 months may get more benefit of oxygenation than the older ones.
Low Dose Steroid Therapy at an Early Phase of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome After Thoracic Surgery
