Original Article
Evaluating Manual Inflations and Breathing during Mask Ventilation in Preterm Infants at Birth

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.09.036Get rights and content

Objective

To investigate inflations (initial sustained inflations and consecutive inflations) and breathing during mask ventilation in preterm infants at birth.

Study design

Resuscitation of infants <32 weeks' gestation receiving mask ventilation at birth were recorded. Recorded waveforms were divided into inflations (sustained and consecutive inflations), breaths in between inflations, breaths coinciding with an inflation, and breaths on continuous positive airway pressure (during evaluation moments in between and after ventilation) and expiratory tidal volume (VTe) was compared. Inflations were analyzed for leak, low VTe (<2.5 mL/kg), high VTe (>15 mL/kg in sustained inflations, >10 mL/kg in consecutive inflations), and airway obstruction.

Results

In 27 infants, we analyzed 1643 inflations, 110 breaths in between inflations, 133 breaths coinciding with an inflation, and 1676 breaths on continuous positive airway pressure. A large mask leak frequently resulted in low VTe. Breathing during positive pressure ventilation occurred in 24 of 27 infants (89%). Median (IQR) VTe of inflations, breaths in between inflations, and breaths coinciding with an inflation were 0.8 mL/kg (0.0-5.6 mL/kg), 2.8 mL/kg (0.7-4.6 mL/kg), and 3.9 mL/kg (0.0-7.7 mL/kg) during sustained inflations and 3.7 mL/kg (1.4-6.7 mL/kg), 3.3 mL/kg (2.1-6.6 mL/kg), and 4.6 mL/kg (2.1-7.8 mL/kg) during consecutive inflations, respectively. The VTe of breaths were significantly lower than the VTe of inflations or breaths coinciding with an inflation.

Conclusions

We often observed large leak and low VTe, especially during sustained inflations. Most preterm infants breathe when receiving mask ventilation and this probably contributed to the stabilization of the infants after birth.

Section snippets

Methods

This prospective observational study was performed at the Department of Neonatology in the Leiden University Medical Center, a tertiary-level perinatal care center. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Leiden University Medical Center. The use of a resuscitation monitor and oximeter is advised in the neonatal resuscitation guidelines of the Leiden University Medical Center and is considered as standard of care when time allows us to set up the equipment. Parental

Results

From March 2009 to October 2010, we recorded 57 resuscitations of preterm infants with a median (IQR) GA of 29 (27-31) weeks and birth weight 1200 g (985-1418 g). Fourteen infants (52%) were male, 18 (67%) were born by cesarean delivery, and 17 (63%) had received antenatal steroids. Thirty were excluded because they did not meet the inclusion criteria for this study: in 14 infants (25%), a nasopharyngeal tube was used as interface, 8 received only CPAP (median [IQR] GA 30 weeks [29-31 weeks]),

Discussion

We analyzed 3562 breaths and inflations of 27 preterm infants in detail. When investigating the effect of inflations alone, we found our results showed that mask ventilation was frequently hampered by large mask leakage, leading to low VTe. Airway obstruction or high VTe occurred less often. We observed breathing by preterm infants receiving mask ventilation during both sustained inflations and consecutive inflations. The VTe of breaths was significantly lower than the VTe of inflations or

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    A.tP. is a recipient of the Veni-grant from The Netherlands of Health Research and Development (ZonMw) and part of the Innovation Research Incentives Scheme Veni-Vidi-Vici (project number 91612027). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

    Contributed equally.

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