In our study, it was found that LISA method was not superior to InSurE method in reducing mortality or incidence of BPD. To the best of our knowledge, it was the largest Chinese single-center observational study focusing on this issue. The main population of our retrospective study was infants at 29 weeks gestation age (mean), who were relatively older than those included in two previous multi-center studies conducted by Kribs et al. [11] and Dargaville et al. [12].
No mortality in either group was observed in our study. The result was consistent with that of Kribs et al. [11], who found that the use of LISA was not associated with mortality. However, the result was in contrast with that of a systemic review conducted by Aldana-Aguirre et al. [4], which showed that LISA could significantly reduce mortality compared with the traditional method. We speculated that the small sample size of our study and the relatively lower mortality rate of infants with gestational ages > 28 weeks would be the main reason.
We did not find significant differences in the incidence of BPD between the two groups. The result was consistent with the result of our previous study [13]. This could also be attributed to the older gestational age of our population. We speculated that LISA’s effects may depend on the population’s gestational age. Mohammadizadeh et al. [14] conducted a study including 38 neonates with an average gestational age of 30 and 31 weeks in the LISA and control groups, respectively. They found that LISA had the same effect on BPD as traditional surfactant administration. A recent study involving 40 neonates with an average gestational age of 31 weeks also reported no effects of LISA on reducing BPD, as compared with InSurE [15]. This could possibly be associated with the lower incidence of BPD in infants with gestation age > 28 weeks. A study by Ramos-Navarro et al. [16] concluded that LISA significantly decreased the incidence of BPD among neonates with gestational age 26+0–28+6 weeks, while no effect was observed among neonates with gestational ages 29+0–31+6 weeks.
It is well known that infants with severe BPD are at a higher risk of mortality after discharge [17], and there is increasing interest in identifying the relationship between LISA and BPD severity. However, there were still no consensus for the relationship from previous studies. Buyuktiryaki et al. [18] found a significant reduction in BPD severity at 36 weeks PMA in the LISA group, compared with that in the InSurE group. Recently, Dargaville et al. [12] conducted a multi-center study in infants with gestational ages between 25 and 28 weeks. They did not find a clear association between BPD severity and LISA. We speculated that many risk factors, such as gestational age, birth body weight, with prenatal/perinatal/postnatal infection and optimal managements after birth, may have different effects on the incidence of BPD. Furthermore, each factor may have various powers on the incidence of BPD among different centers.
MV is a significant risk factor for BPD in preterm infants, specifically those with very low birth weights [19, 20]. We found no significant difference in the incidence of MV within the first 72 h of birth, which was similar to the results of the study conducted by Kruczek et al. [21] In contrast, Gopel et al. [22, 23] found that LISA could reduce MV treatment within 72 h of birth for neonates with gestational ages of 26–28 weeks, as well as in his following study. A study by Kribs et al. [11] also showed that LISA could reduce the rate of tracheal intubation within the first 72 h after birth even for neonates with gestational ages < 25 weeks who were at relatively higher risk of nCPAP failure due to severe apnea or respiratory fatigue. We speculated the difference may mainly be caused by gestational age, and partly be associated with policies of MV.
Several adverse events have been observed during surfactant administration [24]. However, there were no significant differences in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups in our study. Ambulkar et al. [25] reported that approximately 5–40% of neonates undergoing LISA had adverse events, including apnea, transcutaneous oxygen desaturation, bradycardia, and choking. Surfactant reflux was also widespread during surfactant administration, especially in LISA. Furthermore, when compared with the InSurE group, the incidence of surfactant reflux was significantly higher in the LISA group. However, there was no difference in the effects of surfactant replacement, such as reduction in FiO2, PEEP and the number of additional surfactant doses. Thus, further studies should focus on the issue of the optimal surfactant dose for LISA.
In our retrospective study, the number of infants in the InSurE group was relatively higher than that in the LISA group. As shown in previous surveys, the doctors’ attitudes may affect the clinical application of LISA [6, 26]. Half of our cooperators were still hesitant to try this method, despite it had been using for nearly 10 years. Further researches were needed to release their concerns.
Further studies may focus on two issues. One was which population could take most advantage from the method of LISA, although it had been proven to be safe for neonates with a gestational age < 26 weeks [27]. The other was providing/incorporating the follow-up data of the survivors, who received LISA methods.
There were some limitations in our study. Firstly, our study was a single-center retrospective study, and the cohort was relatively small. Secondly, the mean gestational age in our study population was about 29 weeks, which is not the population at the highest risk for mortality and BPD. Finally, we did not perform follow-up in survivors. Our further stratified comparison studies would focus on these issues.
In our study, compared with the traditional application of surfactant administration, the LISA technique was an alternative method to delivery surfactant, but did not significantly reduce the mortality and incidence of BPD. Further researches are required to explore the potential effects of LISA on late pulmonary outcomes or neurodevelopment in survivors.