High-frequency oscillatory ventilation as rescue therapy in sick preterm neonates (</=1250 g): outcome and its prediction

In their recent article, Paranka et al showed the lack of improvement in oxygenation after 6 hours of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) was associated with failure of HFOV and treatment with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in term infants with severe respiratory failure. Rescue HFOV has also been used in treating critically ill very low birth weight infants with respiratory failure. We retrospectively reviewed the outcome of 52 preterm infants (gestation ≤30 weeks, birth weight ≤1250 g) treated with rescue HFOV in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Edmonton, Canada, between October 1988 through August 1993.