When I began my career in Neonatology we initially ventilated primarily with pressure limited time cycled modes of ventilation and only supported some of the breaths as in SIMV modes. With time and emerging research a movement to using set volumes came about and in many centres supporting every breath using an assist control mode or similar version. Although I don’t have access to it in my centre, ventilators such as the Avea also allow for automated FiO2 control in addition to having a choice of two different volume targeting modes. The difference between the modes is the subject of a study entitled Comparison of volume guarantee and volume-controlled ventilation both using closed loop inspired oxygen in preterm infants: a randomised crossover study (CLIO-VG study). I suppose it shouldn’t be a big surprise that as technology advances and we fine tune practice, different modes for volume targeting would arise.
What’s the difference?
Volume Controlled Ventilation (VCV) – flow based on a set volume and measurement of the PIP every 2 ms. Next breath is given the greater of PEEP+2 cm H2O or PIP-2 cmH2O. The ventilator at the end of each breath is able to determine if the baby is still demanding flow and continues providing flow but stops when inspiratory flow is <25% of peak set flow. There is constant inspiratory flow and peak volumes.
Volume Guarantee (VG)- inspiratory pressure is adjusted breath to breath. These breaths have a decelerating flow instead of a fixed flow as in VCV.
The Study
Using automated FiO2 control for both groups the study design was a crossover one. The concept was that better ventilation would help to keep O2 saturations more reliably in a target range of 90-95% and that one of these modes might be superior than the other in doing so. Infants in the study were born at 23+0 – 36+6 weeks and had to be intubated and on >21% FiO2 to be part of the study. Each group spent 12 hours in each arm with the starting mode randomly chosen before switching over to the other mode.
Based on a power calculation in which the authors selected looking for a 5% difference they determined they needed 19 patients in the study overall. The median GA of the infants was 25 weeks (IQR 24-28) with a BW of 685g.
The results demonstrate at the top of Table 2 that the primary outcome was no different at all. Basically whichever mode you choose will work just fine when used with automated FiO2 control to keep the saturations in the target range. If there is anything that the study suggests though is that the percentage of time below 90% may be worse with VCV than VG. You get this from looking at the table and looking at the secondary outcomes. A word of warning though that since the study is small (very small) it is really difficult to take too much stock in the secondary outcomes as the study wasn’t powered to detect such differences. One can’t help but wonder though if that trend might have become a one of significance if the numbers in the study were greater. Is there biological plausibility for this? Looking at the two modes, it would appear that VG by adjusting each breath based on the last expired tidal volume may be more agile. If you believe the hypothesis that tighter control of alveolar ventilation by delivering better ventilation is key to reducing time outside the target ranges then it makes some sense that this mode would be better.
On a personal note, I use only VG in my centre so I am pleased to see there is really no difference in the primary outcome but the trend in the secondary outcomes at least puts a slight smile on my face as well!
I have written a lot over the years on the topic of BPD. It isn’t by chance as it is a condition that Neonatologists have put a lot of weight on. In many ways it is a benchmark that is often the go to condition when comparing one unit to another. When two Neonatologists get together their first question isn’t what’s your rate of ROP or severe developmental delay but more often comparing rates of BPD. We like to compare this as a metric as it’s something we can see as compared to say rates of late onset sepsis. You can see a patient on a ventilator or on CPAP at 36 weeks but you can’t see bacteria coursing through veins.
Not all BPD is the same though. in 2000 the NIH produced a new consensus definition of BPD as shown below.
What stands out for the babies <32 weeks is how severe BPD is defined. Babies who are ventilated are classified in the same severity group as those who are on CPAP. Somehow that doesn’t seem quite right intuitively but alas that is what they decided at the time.
Type 1 sBPD: patients on nasal cannula or noninvasive positive pressure support (i.e., high flow nasal cannula (HFNC), nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP), noninvasive intermittent positive pressure ventilation (nIPPV)) Type 2 sBPD: infants receiving iMV
The authors then looked at a sample of 564 patients from 2015-2019 in the BPD collaborative registry and subdivided them into 429 (76%) Type 1 vs 135 (24%) Type 2 sBPD and compared outcomes between the two. The differences between the two types of BPD are quite significant and shown in Table I. Babies who went on to develop sBPD as Type 2 were younger and smaller than those with Type 1. Medication use within the NICU and after discharge was markedly different as were the total ventilator days which is likely not surprising since by definition they were still intubated at 36 weeks. Importantly if you were still intubated at 36 weeks PMA almost one quarter of the patients went on to receive a tracheostomy.
Looking at it another way using relative risks the signifance of having Type 2 sBPD is impactful.
Taking Meaning From This
You might be quick to say, Michael this is absolutely no surprise. On the other hand if you have read this blog for some time you may remember this piece The New BPD That Matters. This study looked at what gestational age really mattered when looking at long term pulmonary outcomes in a Canadian cohort. When you take all comers it was 40 weeks and not 36 weeks that really mattered. The likely differernce here though is that by selecting out only the severe patients in this current study it is indeed the 36 week mark that still has relevance. I actually think the two papers together are not contradictory but rather additive.
What I think one takes away from the current study is that failure to extubate by 36 weeks does in fact carry with it significant long term risk to the patient. It would be easy enough to say that these babies should be extubated but as you see from table I it isn’t that they didn’t try. From a medication standpoint it would appear that they ” threw the kitchen sink” at these babies. The only thing I find a little surprising is that only 47% of babies in the collaborative with type 2 sBPD received systemic steroids. If they were that sick I would have expected it to be higher although that also may just be a reflection of my own practice.
One thing that I think will be a hot topic moving forward is the use of higher levels of CPAP than what many units are accustomed to. This has also been recently discussed in High CPAP vs NIPPV. Is there a winner? There may be a reluctance by some units to use CPAP levels in the +9-12 cm H2O range but when looking at these downstream complications for patients who remain ventilated at 36 weeks I think people need to seriously consider their biases and whether they are based on science or what they were taught. I can’t help but think of the oft used expression absence of evidence is not evidence of absence and think that if we can all be a little humble who knows what we may discover that can help this population.
