Early versus late surfactant treatment in preterm infants of 27 to 32 weeks' gestational age: a multicenter controlled clinical trial.

Objective: To investigate whether early (<1 hour after birth) surfactant administration would be superior to late treatment (2-6 hours after birth) in preterm infants.

Study Design: Randomized controlled multicenter clinical trial.

Patients And Methods: Prenatal randomization of all infants of 27 to 32 weeks' gestational age stratified by center after parental informed consent. Early treatment: 100 mg/kg body weight bovine surfactant (SF-RI1, Alveofact; Dr K. Thomae, Biberach, Germany) to infants requiring intubation after birth. Late treatment: identical dosage to infants requiring intubation up to 6 hours of age with the fraction of inspired oxygen >0.4 at 2 to 6 hours after birth. Primary endpoint: the time on mechanical ventilation. Main secondary endpoints: mortality, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intraventricular hemorrhage >/=grade III, and periventricular leukomalacia. Sample size calculation: at least 280 infants to prove superiority of either approach (alpha = 0.05; beta = 0.90).

Results: Enrollment of 317 infants, 154 randomized to early surfactant treatment, 163 to late surfactant treatment. Study infants (all following data intent-to-treat groups: early versus late surfactant) were similar with respect to: gestational age, 29.5 +/- 1.6 weeks versus 29.7 +/- 1.6 weeks; birth weight, 1227 +/- 367 g versus 1269 +/- 334 g; and the rate of prenatal corticosteroids, 79.9% versus 72.8%. Duration of mechanical ventilation: 3 days (0-8) versus 2 days (0-6) (median, interquartile); further outcome variables: death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (day 28) 25.9% versus 23.9%, mortality 3.2% versus 1.8%, intraventricular hemorrhage >/=grade III 6.5% versus 3.7%, and periventricular leukomalacia 5.2% versus 5.5% not differing statistically.

Conclusion: In preterm infants with a high rate of prenatal glucocorticoids, early surfactant administration was not found to be superior to late treatment in terms of relevant outcome variables.