No abstract

High-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) permits adequate gas exchange but avoids the large phasic pressure-volume excursions of conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV); such avoidance may reduce the lung injury associated with hyaline membrane disease (HMD). We hypothesized that premature monkeys ventilated from birth with HFOV would have reduced lung injury compared to those assigned to CMV. Macaca nemestrina were delivered at 134 days (80% of term gestation) and ventilated from the first breath with either HFOV (n = 10) or CMV (n = 10). The mean airway pressure (Paw) was kept at 15 cm H2O pressure in HFOV animals; in CMV animals Paw was increased from 8 cm H2O at 2 h to 13 cm H2O at 6 h to prevent hypoxemia. At the conclusion of the 6-h experiment the HFOV animals had better oxygenation (p less than 0.05) and less evidence of HMD by chest radiograph (p less than 0.05). At 6 h of age a piece of the right middle lung lobe was removed, divided, and placed in fixatives for light and transmission electron microscopy. The lungs were subsequently inflated to 30 cm H2O pressure, and the right lower lobe was rapidly frozen in situ for morphometric studies. The proportion of peripheral lung tissue occupied by clear alveoli was greater in HFOV animals (66.3 +/- 14.8%) than in those assigned to CMV (44.2 +/- 16.9%, p less than 0.01); less alveolar debris and fluid was present in the HFOV animals (12.7 +/- 9.9%) compared with CMV animals (27.1 +/- 12.5%, p less than 0.02).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

To determine whether the cause of reduced total lung capacity (TLC) in hyaline membrane disease (HMD) is due to alveolar collapse, alveolar edema, or both, TLC was measured by N2-washout in premature Macaca nemestrina monkeys during the first 3 h of life. The TLC of animals with HMD was only one-third that of healthy premature monkeys over the first 3 h of life (p less than 0.01). At 3.5 h, lung tissue was rapidly frozen in situ during lung inflation to TLC. Samples of frozen lung tissue were freeze dried, embedded, sectioned, and examined by point counting. Animals with HMD had alveolar saccules filled with the residue of proteinaceous fluid, but little alveolar collapse was noted. The proportion of points falling on empty alveolar spaces was 74% in the healthy animals but only 18% in animals with HMD (p less than 0.01); there was a 70-fold increase in the residue present in alveoli of animals with HMD (p less than 0.05). In a separate experiment, rapid serial measurements of TLC by N2-washout showed that healthy premature monkeys, but not those with HMD, have a steady increase in TLC during the first few minutes of life, presumably due to clearance of lung liquid. Although the initial cause of reduced TLC in HMD appears to be inadequate clearance of fetal lung liquid, by 3 h of age proteinaceous alveolar edema is primarily responsible.

To assess maturational changes in collagen synthesis, lung tissue was obtained from healthy Macaca nemestrina monkeys at different ages, ranging from 68% of term gestation to adulthood. We hypothesized that infants delivered prematurely have a greater rate of collagen synthesis than do older animals because of their greater rate of lung growth during gestation. Secondly, we hypothesized that lung repair in infants with hyaline membrane disease (HMD) is associated with an additional increase in lung collagen synthesis rate. Therefore, lung tissue was obtained during the first week of life from monkeys delivered at 82% of term gestation, a stage at which half of them developed HMD. The rate of total protein synthesis in lung samples was determined by measuring the incorporation of [3H]proline; the rate of collagen synthesis was determined by measuring the conversion of proline into hydroxyproline. Premature monkeys had a higher rate of collagen synthesis (9.9 +/- 2.7 nmol/mg DNA/h) than did term infants (5.3 +/- 1.1) or older animals (2.1 +/- 0.4, p less than 0.05). There was no additional increase in rate of collagen synthesis in animals with HMD from 3 h (14.3 +/- 6.9) to 7 days of age (15.1 +/- 6.1); control premature animals also had no significant change during the first week of life (10.9 +/- 3.0 at 3 h; 11.6 +/- 4.6 at 7 days). The early stage of recovery from HMD in premature monkeys does not appear to be associated with an increase in collagen production beyond the already increased synthesis rate associated with lung growth.

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is a chronic, sometimes fatal lung disease, which primarily affects premature infants and often leads to a dependence on mechanical ventilation lasting many months. To identify prognostic factors of mortality at 1 and 2 months of age, the authors reviewed the medical records of the 144 neonates admitted to two neonatal intensive care units in Seattle from January 1, 1986, through December 31, 1988, who required mechanical ventilation throughout the first month of life. Likely predictors of mortality were tested by logistic regression analysis. The calculated mean airway pressure at 30 days of age (MAP30) and the diagnosis of bacterial sepsis at any time during the first month of life (Bact0-30) were statistically significant predictors of mortality (P < .001 and P = .018, respectively) and had the lowest deviance in the regression model. The probability of mortality was estimated by 1/(1 + e-x, where x = -6.510 + 0.4588 (MAP30) + 1.475 (Bact0-30), and where MAP30 is expressed as centimeters of water pressure (1 cm H2O = 0.0978 kPa) and the presence or absence of bacteremia is 1 and 0, respectively. The records of the 57 infants who still required mechanical ventilation at 60 days of age were reanalyzed with clinical data available during the first 2 months of life. Mean airway pressure (MAP60) and the fraction of inspired oxygen (F60) at 60 days of age combined to form the best predictors of mortality, where x = -7.668 + 0.2940 (MAP60) + 5.935 (F60). The occurrence of bacterial sepsis during the first 2 months of life, the degree of hypochloremia, and the duration of chronic sedative use were also significant predictors of survival, even controlling of MAP60 and F60. These regression equations allow more accurate estimation of the likelihood of survival for chronically ventilated infants and may facilitate decisions regarding withdrawal or continuation of life support.