Feasibility and physiological effects of noninvasive neurally adjusted ventilatory assist in preterm infants.

BackgroundNoninvasive neurally adjusted ventilator assist (NIV-NAVA) was introduced to our clinical practice via a pilot and a randomized observational study to assess its safety, feasibility, and short-term physiological effects.MethodsThe pilot protocol applied NIV-NAVA to 11 infants on nasal CPAP, high-flow nasal cannula, or nasal intermittent mandatory ventilation (NIMV), in multiple 2- to 4-h periods of NIV-NAVA for comparison. This provided the necessary data to design a randomized, controlled observational crossover study in eight additional infants to compare the physiological effects of NIV-NAVA with NIMV during 2-h steady-state conditions.

Evaluation of Ultrasound-Based Sensor to Monitor Respiratory and Nonrespiratory Movement and Timing in Infants.

Goal: To describe and validate a noncontacting sensor that used reflected ultrasound to separately monitor respiratory, nonrespiratory, and caretaker movements of infants.

Methods: An in-phase and quadrature (I & Q) detection scheme provided adequate bandwidth, in conjunction with postdetection filtering, to separate the three types of movement. The respiratory output was validated by comparing it to the electrical activity of the diaphragm (Edi) obtained from an infant ventilator in 11 infants.