Minimally invasive approaches for surfactant administration.

Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is the most common respiratory morbidity in preterm infants. In addition to respiratory support, the current clinical treatment includes endotracheal intubation and rapid instillation of exogenous surfactant. However, this approach needs skilled operators and has been associated with complications such as hemodynamic instability and electroencephalogram abnormalities. New, less invasive methods for surfactant administration are needed. In this article, we reviewed the available noninvasive procedures for surfactant administration. In particular, we focused on aerosolized surfactant and surfactant administration through LMA.

Effect of airway clearance techniques on the efficacy of the sputum induction procedure.

Sputum induction is used in the early identification of tuberculosis (TB) and pneumocystis infections of the lung. Although manual physiotherapy techniques to clear the airways are often incorporated in the sputum induction procedure, their efficacy in this setting is unknown. This randomised, crossover trial enrolled adults referred for sputum induction for suspected TB and pneumocystis infections of the lung. All participants underwent two sputum induction procedures, inhaling 3% saline via ultrasonic nebuliser. During one randomly allocated procedure, airway clearance techniques (chest wall percussion, vibration, huffing) were incorporated. In total, 59 participants completed the trial. The airway clearance techniques had no significant effect on how the test was tolerated, the volume expectorated or the quality of the sample obtained (assessed by the presence of alveolar macrophages). The techniques did not significantly affect how often the test identified a suspected organism, nor the sensitivity or specificity of sputum induction. In conclusion, the study was unable to demonstrate any effect of airway clearance techniques on the sputum induction procedure. The results provide some justification for not including airway clearance techniques as part of the sputum induction procedure.