High-frequency oscillatory ventilation in the management of respiratory distress syndrome.

Early use of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation with a high volume strategy (HFOV-HVS) has been proposed to decrease the incidence of chronic lung disease following respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in extremely immature infants. Despite encouraging results of animal experiments, clinical trials have provided discordant results. Our own multicenter trial showed that using HFOV-HVS, compared with conventional ventilation, decreased exogenous surfactant requirements, but did not modify pulmonary outcome, and increased the risk of severe intraventricular hemorrhage. This prompted us to change our management of RDS, by switching from elective use of HFOV to an 'early rescue' approach. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.