Surfactant-Replacement Therapy

Abstract

SURFACTANT-REPLACEMENT therapy for premature infants born with inadequate stores of pulmonary surfactants is here to stay. A growing number of prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trials testify to both the efficacy and safety of the tracheal instillation of surfactant in treating premature infants with the respiratory distress syndrome.¹ Respiratory distress syndrome, also known as hyaline membrane disease, was previously the leading cause of death in live-born preterm infants. Approximately 10,000 deaths per year were recorded in the United States in the early 1970s; the number was closer to 5000 per year in the 1980s, before the advent of surfactant-replacement therapy. Respiratory . . .