[High frequency oscillatory ventilation and conventional mechanical ventilation in the treatment of infants with severe respiratory syncytial virus pneumonia: a randomized controlled trial].

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy of high frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) and conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) in the treatment of infants with severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) pneumonia.

Methods: A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted. The infants with severe RSV pneumonia who received invasive mechanical ventilation admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) of Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Institute of Pediatrics from January 2018 to December 2019 were enrolled. According to the order of admission, each infant was assigned to HFOV group or CMV group by random number table. The basic data, pediatric critical score, blood gas analysis, ventilator parameters, oxygenation index [OI, OI = mean airway pressure (Pmean)×fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO)/arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO)×100], duration of mechanical ventilation, length of ICU stay, complications, prognosis, use of muscle relaxants and vasoactive drugs and other clinical indicators of the two groups were recorded.

Results: A total of 28 infants were enrolled in the analysis, including 15 infants receiving CMV and 13 infants receiving HFOV. There were no significant differences in age, body weight, pediatric critical score and OI before enrollment, type II respiratory failure, multiple organ dysfunction, basic diseases and laboratory examination indexes before enrollment between the two groups. Six hours after enrollment, compared with CMV group, heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), case of transcutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO) decrease, case of HR decrease, case of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and OI in HFOV group were significantly decreased [HR (bpm): 130 (125, 138) vs. 144 (140, 160), RR (times/min): 35 (34, 38) vs. 40 (35, 45), SpO decrease (case: 1 vs. 10), HR decrease (case: 0 vs. 6), CPR (case: 0 vs. 4), OI: 6.5 (4.4, 8.9) vs. 9.3 (8.0, 12.8)], while case of use of muscle relaxants (case: 3 vs. 0) and volume of 7-day positive fluid balance [mL/kg: 167.1 (113.8, 212.6) vs. 90.8 (57.8, 112.7)] were significantly higher, the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). There was no use of blood purification treatment, no severe complications such as pneumothorax and intracranial hemorrhage, and no death within 28 days in the two groups.

Conclusions: Compared with CMV, HFOV in the treatment of infants with severe RSV pneumonia can improve the oxygenation level and clinical physiological indexes earlier, reduce the incidence of adverse events such as HR, SpO decrease and CPR, increase the use of muscle relaxants and the positive fluid balance, and do not increase the incidence of severe complications such as pneumothorax and intracranial hemorrhage, so its clinical application is safe.