Innovation in surfactant therapy II: surfactant administration by aerosolization

Instilled bolus surfactant is the only approved surfactant treatment for neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. However, recent trends towards increased utilization of noninvasive respiratory support for preterm infants with surfactant deficiency have created a demand for a similarly noninvasive means of administering exogenous surfactant. Past approaches to surfactant nebulization met with varying success due to inefficient aerosol devices resulting in low intrapulmonary delivery doses of surfactant with variable clinical effectiveness. The recent development of vibrating membrane nebulizers, coupled with appropriate positioning of the interface device, indicates that efficient delivery of aerosolized surfactant is now a realistic goal in infants. Evidence of clinical effect despite low total administered dose in pilot studies, together with suggestions of enhanced homogeneity of pulmonary distribution indicate that this therapy may be applied in a cost-effective manner, with minimal patient handling and disruption. These studies need to be subjected to appropriately designed randomized controlled trials. Further work is also required to determine the optimum delivery route (mask, intranasal prong, nasopharyngeal or laryngeal), dosing amount and redosing interval.