Background: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of volume guarantee (VG) on high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) compared with HFOV alone in preterm infants with hypoxic respiratory failure (HRF).
Methods: Fifty-two preterm infants with HRF refractory to conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) were enrolled in this study. Between June 2012 and February 2016, HFOV alone was used as rescue therapy when CMV failed for 34 infants, whereas HFOV combined with VG was used as rescue therapy for the other 18 infants between March 2016 and December 2017.
Results: HFOV combined with VG resulted in a reduction in the combined outcome of death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) (p = 0.017) and also a reduction in episodes of hypercarbia (p = 0.010) compared with HFOV alone.
Conclusion: In this study, the preterm infants with HRF ventilated using HFOV combined with VG had a reduced combined outcome of death or BPD and hypercarbia compared with those who received HFOV alone.