Surfactant-Replacement Therapy

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 . . .