Benefits/Effectiveness Of Pulmonary Surfactant Therapy In Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Case Report And Literature Review

Neonatal Respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS), is an acute lung disease of the newborncaused by surfactant deficiency. It is one of the most common causes of respiratory failures inpremature babies, especially in neonates younger than32weeks’ gestational age andweighing less than1200g. Ventilation was used to improve oxygenation and diseasedmortality of neonates with NRDS, but it may cause severe lung injury includingpneumothorax, ventilator-associated pneumonia and increase the incidence of chronic lungdisease or bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intracranial hemorrhage. Surfactant therapy becameavailable in the1980s and has significantly changed clinical practice in neonatology over thelast30years. Early postnatal Surfactant therapy has been shown to improve oxygenation,decrease air leaks, and most importantly decreases infant mortality from NRDS.The purpose of this review is to give an overview the developments in field of pulmonarysurfactant, focusing on benefits of surfactant replacement therapy in preterm NRDS, reporteda case with NRDS managed with an extract of porcine lung surfactant.