Effect of low-dose exogenous surfactant on infants with acute respiratory distress syndrome after cardiac surgery: A retrospective analysis
Abstract Purpose: To evaluate the effect of low-dose exogenous surfactant therapy on infants suffering acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) after cardiac surgery. Materials and methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study of the archive data of infants diagnosed with ARDS after cardiac surgery and admitted to pediatric cardiac surgical intensive care unit (PICU). A case was defined as a patient that received surfactant and standard therapy; a control was defined as a patient that underwent standard therapy. Controls were identified by matching patients based on age(±30d), weight(±3kg), risk adjustment congenital heart surgery-1 (RACHS-1), and initial ratio of partial pressure of oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) (±10). Outcome variables namely oxygenation indices (OI), ventilation index (VI), mechanical ventilation time and PICU time were compared.Results: Forty-four patients, 22 who received surfactant (surfactant group) and 22 who did not (control group) were analyzed. Surfactant group obtained a significant improvement on OI (13.9 vs 5.62; p=0.000) and VI (42.0 vs 22.4; p=0.000) in 6 hours, while control group got no improvement on OI (13.2 vs 11.5; p=0.065) and VI (40.2 vs 36.4; p=0.100). Compared with control group, surfactant group had shorter ventilation time (133.6h vs 218.4h; p=0.000) and PICU time (10.7d vs 17.5d; p=0.001). Infants in surfactant group under 3 months benefit more from OI and VI than infants over 3 months.Conclusions: In congenital heart disease infants with post-surgery ARDS, low-dose exogenous surfactant treatment could prominently improve oxygenation and reduced mechanical ventilation time and PICU time. And the improvement of oxygenation is more effective for infants under 3 months.