Slowing lung deflation by increasing the expiratory resistance enhances FRC in preterm rabbits

As very preterm infants have surfactant-deficient and highly incompliant lungs, slowing lung deflation during expiration might help preserve functional residual capacity(FRC) during lung aeration. In this study, we investigated the effect of expiratory resistance(Re) on lung aeration during positive pressure ventilation in preterm rabbits immediately after birth.

Preterm rabbit pups were delivered at 29 days gestation, mechanically ventilated from birth and simultaneously imaged to measure lung aeration using phase-contrast X-ray. Re was varied by altering the length (0, 60 or 1000 mm) of the expiratory circuit.

Increasing Re led to a decrease in lung deflation rates and both peak expiratory flows and flow rates at mid-deflation. As a result, the rate of de-acceleration(slowing) in lung deflation when approaching FRC was markedly reduced with increasing resistance. During lung aeration, FRC was significantly different between resistance groups and was significantly higher over time in the high compared to the low resistance group. While FRC values tended to be higher with higher Re, they were not significantly different at end-ventilation (t = 7 min).

Increasing Re of the ventilation circuit during lung aeration in preterm rabbits immediately after birth decreased lung deflation rates and increased the accumulation of FRC over time.

The expiratory phase of the ventilatory cycle has been largely overlooked as an opportunity to improve ventilation in preterm infants after birth. Increasing the expiratory resistance of the ventilator circuit during lung aeration in preterm rabbits immediately after birth markedly decreased lung deflation rates and increased FRC accumulation, compared to a low expiratory resistance. This indicates that ventilation devices that reduce the "work of breathing" by reducing the expiratory resistance, may have the unintended effect of reducing FRC, particularly in extremely preterm infants that have surfactant deficient highly incompliant lungs.