The effect of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation or airway pressure release ventilation on children with acute respiratory distress syndrome as a rescue therapy

To investigate the effects of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) or airway pressure release ventilation (APRV) as a rescue therapy on children with moderate and severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We retrospectively enrolled 47 children with ARDS who were transitioned from synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV) to either HFOV or APRV for 48 h or longer after failure of SIMV. The parameters of demographic data, arterial blood gases, ventilator settings, oxygenation index (OI), and PaO /FiO (PF) ratio during the first 48 h of HFOV and APRV were recorded. There was no significant difference between the HFOV and APRV groups with survival rates of 60% and 72.7%, respectively. Compared to pre-transition, the mean airway pressures at 2 and 48 h after transition were higher in both groups (P