Reduced BPD Rates Made Possible by A New Nasal CPAP Device Through Early Extubation. 1252

Nasal prongs CPAP has been in use since the early 70's. The conventional nasal progs increased the work of breathing (WOB) by 94% (Goldman'79). They were not well tolerated by small preterm infants, as a result reintubaion was often necessary and hence mechanical ventilation prolonged. There has been no break through in technology until recently when Moa et al developed a new NCPAP device (Aladdin) which reduced WOB to 1/4 of conventional NCPAP system(Klausner 1996) and improved the tolerance and comfort of infants placed under them. We began using this new NCPAP system in Nov. 1995. We compared mechanical ventilation (MV) days and BPD rates of ELBW infants one year before and after the use of this device. Table

Table 1

Better tolerance to the new NCPAP system afforded significantly earlier extubation, shorter ventilator days in ELBW infants (BW 480-1000g) and a reduced BPD (defined as an O₂ requirement at 36 wk post-conceptional age) rate in micropreemies. (BW <750g) compared to the period when conventional nasal prongs CPAP was utilized.