Respiratory Morbidity

The purpose of this observational study is to learn about neonatologists' perceptions of extubation readiness and extubation and reintubation practices in extremely preterm infants in the first 2 weeks of life using prospective qualitative and quantitative data. Actual extubation readiness is defined as successful extubation, defined as no reintubation in the 7 days following extubation. Key research questions are: How do clinicians assess extubation readiness in this population? Does this assessment correlate with actual extubation success? What factors (reasons, clinical status, ventilatory parameters) are associated with extubation readiness? Patients born before 28 weeks gestational age and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) within the first 24 hours are be included. The attending physician will complete a prospectively administered questionnaire with open-ended and multiple-choice questions to daily assess the decision and rationale for extubation or non-extubation of patients mechanically ventilated during the first 15 days of life. Patient characteristics, respiratory outcomes, and mortality will be recorded until the end of hospitalisation and/or definitive weaning from any ventilatory support or supplemental oxygen.

The prevalence of transfusion reactions is between 1 and 11% of transfusions. Most reactions are mild and do not pose a life-threatening risk to the patient. More serious problems may be the only manifestations that lead to suspicion of a transfusion reaction. Most noninfectious transfusion reactions are immune-mediated. Two main types of reactions can be distinguished: TACO (transfusion associated cardiac overload, which is a cardiogenic pulmonary edema) and TRALI (transfusion related acute lung injury, non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema). Although TRALI are diagnoses of exclusion, the presence of noncardiogenic pulmonary edema and respiratory problems in the vicinity of blood product transfusions should raise suspicion. Other signs of TRALI are hypotension and tachycardia, while in TACO arterial hypertension with positive water balance can be observed. According to previous reports, the prevalence of transfusion reactions in the neonatal population is approximately 8%. Factors associated with these reactions are low birth weight and low gestational age. However, diagnostic criteria of respiratory transfusion reactions are not uniform across studies, and often the generic terms "acute lung injury" have been used. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to evaluate the respiratory trend during blood transfusions; secondary objectives are the study of risk factors for the development of respiratory worsening and the possible association with complications.

The study aims to evaluate the measurement accuracy of respiratory impedance during oscillometry (or Forced Oscillation Technique - FOT) under the following conditions: 1)The subject's cheeks are manually supported by an expert (Gold Standard method), 2) The subject's cheeks are supported by an integrated cheek support in the mouthpiece. It is a prospective, randomized, cross-over study on Subjects who will present themselves at the offices of the participating doctors, aged between 5 and 75 years. The primary outcome is to Compare the respiratory impedance measurements under the two measurement conditions. Secondary Objectives are to: i)evaluate the patient's comfort during the measurement with the cheek support and compare this comfort to the gold standard condition; ii) assess the maximum and minimum face dimensions of the recruited subjects that allow for effective and comfortable cheek support; iii) evaluate the type and frequency of measurement errors introduced by the use of the integrated cheek support in the mouthpiece.

This is a study proposal for a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a reduced dose of antenatal betamethasone (a steroid medication) in preventing respiratory problems in late preterm infants (born between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation). The study will be conducted in medical centers in Israel and will involve women who are at high risk for delivering a late preterm infant. The participants will be randomly assigned to receive either a full dose (12 mg) or a quarter dose (3 mg) of betamethasone, administered 24 hours apart. The main outcome measure of the study will be the incidence of respiratory problems or neonatal death within 72 hours of delivery in the two groups. The study is designed to determine if the reduced dose of betamethasone is non-inferior (i.e., not significantly worse) than the full dose in preventing respiratory problems in late preterm infants.