Combined-modality therapy with inhaled nitric oxide and exogenous surfactant in term infants with acute respiratory failure.

OBJECTIVE

To report cases of neonates successfully treated with both exogenous surfactant and inhaled nitric oxide (INO).

DESIGN

Retrospective chart review of full term infants treated between January and May 1999 in the neonatal intensive care unit of The Children's Hospital at Strong, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.

PATIENTS: Three full-term infants treated with surfactant and INO were identified. Each infant had severe acute respiratory failure (as a result of severe aspiration syndromes) and a clinical diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and parenchymal lung disease in the absence of congenital malformations.

INTERVENTIONS: One infant received INO (20-40 ppm) followed by exogenous surfactant (100mg/kg); the other two received surfactant followed by INO.

MAIN

RESULTS

All three infants exhibited a favorable response to treatment with these agents in terms of improved arterial oxygenation as summarized by oxygenation index and all survived to discharge home without referral for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

CONCLUSIONS

No adverse interactions were observed related to INO plus surfactant therapy. The responses of these critically ill infants were consistent with the hypothesis that the actions of INO in dilating the pulmonary microvasculature and of exogenous surfactant in stabilizing and recruiting alveoli are complementary and may lead to additive clinical benefits. These case results suggest that more extensive clinical studies are warranted for combined-modality therapy with INO and exogenous surfactant in patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome.