Functional residual capacity to thoracic gas volume (FRC:TGV) ratio in healthy neonates

Capnodynamic end-expiratory lung volume assessment in anesthetized healthy children

BACKGROUND

Capnodynamic lung function monitoring generates variables that may be useful for pediatric perioperative ventilation.

AIMS

Establish normal values for end-expiratory lung volume CO2 in healthy children undergoing anesthesia and to compare these values to previously published values obtained with alternative end-expiratory lung volume methods. The secondary aim was to investigate the ability of end-expiratory lung volume CO2 to react to positive end-expiratory pressure-induced changes in end-expiratory lung volume. In addition, normal values for associated volumetric capnography lung function variables were examined.

METHODS

Fifteen pediatric patients with healthy lungs (median age 8 months, range 1-36 months) undergoing general anesthesia were examined before start of surgery. Tested variables were recorded at baseline positive end-expiratory pressure 3 cmH2 O, 1 and 3 min after positive end-expiratory pressure 10 cmH2 O and 3 min after returning to baseline positive end-expiratory pressure 3 cmH2 O.

RESULTS

Baseline end-expiratory lung volume CO2 was 32 mL kg-1 (95% CI 29-34 mL kg-1 ) which increased to 39 mL kg-1 (95% CI 35-43 mL kg-1 , p < .0001) and 37 mL kg-1 (95% CI 34-41 mL kg-1 , p = .0003) 1 and 3 min after positive end-expiratory pressure 10 cmH2 O, respectively. End-expiratory lung volume CO2 returned to baseline, 33 mL kg-1 (95% CI 29-37 mL kg-1 , p = .72) 3 min after re-establishing positive end-expiratory pressure 3 cmH2 O. Airway dead space increased from 1.1 mL kg-1 (95% CI 0.9-1.4 mL kg-1 ) to 1.4 (95% CI 1.1-1.8 mL kg-1 , p = .003) and 1.5 (95% CI 1.1-1.8 mL kg-1 , p < .0001) 1 and 3 min after positive end-expiratory pressure 10 cmH2 O, respectively, and 1.2 mL kg-1 (95% CI 0.9-1.4 mL kg-1 , p = .08) after 3 min of positive end-expiratory pressure 3 cmH2 O. Additional volumetric capnography and lung function variables showed no major changes in response to positive end-expiratory pressure variations.

CONCLUSIONS

Capnodynamic noninvasive and continuous end-expiratory lung volume CO2 values assessed during anesthesia in children were in close agreement with previously reported end-expiratory lung volume values generated by alternative methods. Furthermore, positive end-expiratory pressure changes resulted in physiologically expected end-expiratory lung volume CO2 responses in a timely manner, suggesting that it can be used to trend end-expiratory lung volume changes during anesthesia.

A new paradigm for lung-conservative total liquid ventilation

Background

Total liquid ventilation (TLV) of the lungs could provide radically new benefits in critically ill patients requiring lung lavage or ultra-fast cooling after cardiac arrest. It consists in an initial filling of the lungs with perfluorocarbons and subsequent tidal ventilation using a dedicated liquid ventilator. Here, we propose a new paradigm for a lung-conservative TLV using pulmonary volumes of perfluorocarbons below functional residual capacity (FRC).

Methods and findings

Using a dedicated technology, we showed that perfluorocarbon end-expiratory volumes could be maintained below expected FRC and lead to better respiratory recovery, preserved lung structure and accelerated evaporation of liquid residues as compared to complete lung filling in piglets. Such TLV below FRC prevented volutrauma through preservation of alveolar recruitment reserve. When used with temperature-controlled perfluorocarbons, this lung-conservative approach provided neuroprotective ultra-fast cooling in a model of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The scale-up and automating of the technology confirmed that incomplete initial lung filling during TLV was beneficial in human adult-sized pigs, despite larger size and maturity of the lungs. Our results were confirmed in aged non-human primates, confirming the safety of this lung-conservative approach.

Interpretation

This study demonstrated that TLV with an accurate control of perfluorocarbon volume below FRC could provide the full potential of TLV in an innovative and safe manner. This constitutes a new paradigm through the tidal liquid ventilation of incompletely filled lungs, which strongly differs from the previously known TLV approach, opening promising perspectives for a safer clinical translation.

Fund

ANR (COOLIVENT), FRM (DBS20140930781), SATT IdfInnov (project 273).

Predicting healthcare outcomes in prematurely born infants using cluster analysis

AIMS

Prematurely born infants are at high risk of respiratory morbidity following neonatal unit discharge, though prediction of outcomes is challenging. We have tested the hypothesis that cluster analysis would identify discrete groups of prematurely born infants with differing respiratory outcomes during infancy.

METHODS

A total of 168 infants (median (IQR) gestational age 33 (31-34) weeks) were recruited in the neonatal period from consecutive births in a tertiary neonatal unit. The baseline characteristics of the infants were used to classify them into hierarchical agglomerative clusters. Rates of viral lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) were recorded for 151 infants in the first year after birth.

RESULTS

Infants could be classified according to birth weight and duration of neonatal invasive mechanical ventilation (MV) into three clusters. Cluster one (MV ≤5 days) had few LRTIs. Clusters two and three (both MV ≥6 days, but BW ≥or <882 g respectively), had significantly higher LRTI rates. Cluster two had a higher proportion of infants experiencing respiratory syncytial virus LRTIs (P = 0.01) and cluster three a higher proportion of rhinovirus LRTIs (P < 0.001) CONCLUSIONS: Readily available clinical data allowed classification of prematurely born infants into one of three distinct groups with differing subsequent respiratory morbidity in infancy.

Respiratory function of very prematurely born infants at follow up: influence of sex

OBJECTIVE

To test the hypothesis that male compared with female prematurely born infants would have worse lung function at follow up.

DESIGN

Prospective follow up study.

SETTING

Tertiary neonatal intensive care units

PATIENTS

Seventy six infants, mean (SD) gestational age 26.4 (1.5) weeks, from the United Kingdom oscillation study.

INTERVENTIONS

Lung function measurements at a corrected age of 1 year.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Airways resistance (Raw) and functional residual capacity (FRC(pleth)) measured by whole body plethysmography, specific conductance (sGaw) calculated from Raw and FRC(pleth), and FRC measured by a helium gas dilution technique (FRC(He)).

RESULTS

The 42 male infants differed significantly from the 34 female infants in having a lower birth weight for gestation, requiring more days of ventilation, and a greater proportion being oxygen dependent at 36 weeks postmenstrual age and discharge. Furthermore, mean Raw and FRC(pleth) were significantly higher and mean sGaw significantly lower. After adjustment for birth and current size differences, the sex differences in FRC(pleth) and sGaw were 15% and 26% respectively and remained significant.

CONCLUSION

Lung function at follow up of prematurely born infants is influenced by sex.

Lung function tests in neonates and infants with chronic lung disease of infancy: functional residual capacity

This is the second paper in a review series that will summarize available data and discuss the potential role of lung function testing in infants and young children with acute neonatal respiratory disorders and chronic lung disease of infancy. The current paper addresses the expansive subject of measurements of lung volume using plethysmography and gas dilution/washout techniques. Following orientation of the reader to the subject area, we focus our comments on areas of inquiry proposed in the introductory paper to this series. The quality of the published literature is reviewed critically, and recommendations are provided to guide future investigation in this field. Measurements of lung volume are important both for assessing growth and development of lungs in health and disease, and for interpreting volume-dependent lung function parameters such as respiratory compliance, resistance, forced expiratory flows, and indices of gas-mixing efficiency. Acute neonatal lung disease is characterized by severely reduced functional residual capacity (FRC), with treatments aimed at securing optimal lung recruitment. While FRC may remain reduced in established chronic lung disease of infancy, more commonly it becomes normalized or even elevated due to hyperinflation, with or without gas-trapping, secondary to airway obstruction. Ideally, accurate and reliable bedside measurements of FRC would be feasible from birth, throughout all phases of postnatal care (including assisted ventilation), and during subsequent long-term follow-up. Although lung volume measurements in extremely preterm infants were described in a research environment, resolution of several issues is required before such investigations can be translated into routine clinical monitoring.

Problems in the measurement of functional residual capacity

Accurate assessment of lung volume in infancy is important to determine the impact of disease and the efficacy of therapies. A new generation of infant plethysmographs with lower apparatus deadspace has been produced, but gives lower volume results than those from older traditional plethysmographs. We hypothesized that the new plethysmographs might have greater sensitivity to the adiabatic effect and hence they, rather than the traditional plethysmographs, produced erroneous results. Our aim was to assess the influence of the adiabatic effect on the results of a contemporary plethysmograph, an older traditional plethysmograph and a helium gas dilution system using a lung model. Altering the amount of copper wool within the lung model allowed the influence of the adiabatic effect on the plethysmographic results to be assessed. The measured compared to the actual volumes were significantly lower for the contemporary plethysmograph compared to the traditional plethysmograph (p < 0.001) and to the helium gas dilution system (p < 0.001). Under optimal testing conditions the contemporary plethysmograph under-recorded by 11-13%, whereas the other two systems gave similar results to the actual volumes. As the effect of the adiabatic effect was increased, the discrepancy between the results of the contemporary and the traditional plethysmographs increased. We conclude, the contemporary plethysmograph is more sensitive to adiabatic effects and hence under-records.

Serial lung volume measurements during the perinatal period in infants with abdominal wall defects

METHODS

Daily measurements of lung volume (functional residual capacity, FRC) were made during the perinatal period in eight infants (median gestational age, 37 weeks; range, 34 to 38 weeks) with abdominal wall defects.

RESULTS

On the first day of life and before surgical intervention, four infants had FRCs below the reference range; the occurrence of low lung volumes was not significantly related to gestational age or diagnosis. Lung volume was further, but only temporarily, impaired by surgical closure of the abdominal wall defect, with a reduction in the median FRC from 25 mL/kg (range, 18 to 36) preoperatively to 12 mL/kg (range, 5 to 19) on the first postoperative day (P < .02).

CONCLUSION

These data are consistent with abnormal antenatal lung growth in certain infants with abdominal wall defects.

Perinatal lung function and invasive antenatal procedures

BACKGROUND

Second trimester amniocentesis has been associated with an excess of perinatal lung function abnormalities. Early amniocentesis might have a similar adverse effect, as could other invasive investigations carried out in the first trimester.

METHODS

Plethysmographic measurements of thoracic gas volume (TGV) and airway resistance (Raw), from which specific conductance (sGaw) was calculated, were made in the perinatal period in non-sedated infants. In addition, functional residual capacity (FRC) was measured using a helium gas dilution technique. Measurements were made in 47 infants whose mothers had undergone early amniocentesis, 19 whose mothers had undergone chorion villus sampling, and 25 controls whose mothers had undergone no invasive antenatal procedures.

RESULTS

The infants of mothers who had undergone early amniocentesis had higher TGV (95% CI -6.3 to 1.1 ml/kg) and Raw values (95% CI -10.68 to -5.23 cm H2O/l/s) and lower sGaw (0.11 to 0.84 l/cm H2O.s) and FRC (-5.17 to - 0.87 ml/kg) values than the controls. Infants whose mothers had undergone chorion villus sampling also differed significantly from the controls with higher Raw (-7.59 to -1.99 cm H2O/l/s) and lower sGaw values (0.11 to 0.24 l/cm H2O.s), and had lower Raw values than those in the early amniocentesis group (not significant). Logistic regression analysis, taking into account possible risk factors for abnormal lung function, showed that the procedures performed in the first trimester were independently associated with a high airways resistance.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that invasive procedures performed in the first trimester of pregnancy have an adverse effect on perinatal lung function.