A twelve-year neonatal and pediatric high-frequency oscillatory ventilation transport experience.

Objective: To describe the evolution over a 12-year period of a pediatric intensive care unit transport team's (PICU-TT) experience of pediatric and neonatal interhospital transportation on high-frequency oscillation ventilation (HFOV).

Methods: This was a monocentric retrospective observational study from January 2006 to December 2017. All patients aged under 18 years old who were transported on HFOV by the Robert Debré Hospital PICU-TT were included.

Results: Over a 12-year period, 125 patients were transported on HFOV, including 107 newborns and 18 children. Median (range) age and weight were 9 days (1 h-9 years) and 3.3 (0.6-39) kg, respectively. Initial median oxygenation index, SpO /FiO ratio and mean airway pressure were 32, 91, and 18 cmH O, respectively, without significant difference between values before and after transport. Adverse events occurred during 28 transportations (22%) including three recovered cardiac arrests and one death. Overall survival rate at discharge was 74%, 78% in neonates and 56% in pediatrics, respectively. HFOV transportation rate increased over the last four years of the study for neonates and remained stable for older children. Extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) initiation rate on arrival decreased and survival rate increased significantly during the last four years of the study (p < .05).

Conclusion: This study showed the feasibility of HFOV transportation by a PICU-TT, despite some challenges. A trend towards using ECMO more than HFOV for the most severe respiratory and/or circulatory failures was seen over the 12-year period. The HFOV transportation rate has increased for less severe neonatal patients.