Effectiveness of curosurf for severe respiratory distress syndrome: a case-control study.

Randomized trials have proven that exogenous surfactant is effective in severe neonatal respiratory distress syndrome when strict entry criteria are applied. To evaluate efficacy of surfactant treatment in a clinical setting, we performed a case-control study. The outcome of the first 25 consecutive cases treated with porcine surfactant (Curosurf) was compared to that of 25 matched historical nontreated controls. Survival at discharge was significantly higher in surfactant-treated cases than among controls (76 vs. 48%; p less than 0.05). No differences were found in other outcome parameters.