Vol. 4, Issue 12, Part B (2018)

Material & Methods: A prospective observational study was done on 50 babies both preterm and term admitted consecutively in NICU of Rohilkhand Medical College & Hospital, Bareilly, requiring respiratory support for mild to moderate respiratory distress based on Downe’s score and Silverman Anderson score. Support was given with short nasal prongs connected to Fisher & Paykel B-CPAP. Surfactant was administered when required. Monitoring was done clinically, with pulse oximetery, radiological and with arterial blood gases.

Results: The mean gestational age of the study population was 32-34 weeks and birth weight was 1.600kg. 40% of the populations were Very Low Birth Weight (<1.5kg). C-PAP failure rate was higher in these babies. The most common indication of B-CPAP was RDS (84%) followed by pneumonia (6%), TTNB (6%) and MAS (4%). The commonest complications on B-CPAP were nasal abrasion (20%), gastric distension (8%), apnea (4%) and feed intolerance (4%). Overall failure of BCPAP occurred in 11/50 cases or 22%. All babies who failed BCPAP were put on mechanical ventilation. Failures in RDS group were 10/42 or 23.8%, pneumonia group was 1/3 or 33.33% and no failure reported in MAS and TTNB group. Overall survival rate of the study population was 39/50 or 78%.

Conclusions: Bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure is safe, competent and easy to use in preterm neonates with mild to moderate respiratory distress.