More recently, Shefali-Patel et al. performed a randomised weaning trial comparing assist control ventilation and pressure support ventilation in 36 neonates, with a median gestational age of 29 weeks. After adjusting the termination sensitivity of pressure support, set to maintain an in ation time of 0.25 to 0.3 seconds, there were no signi cant differences between the two groups in terms of work of breathing, level of respiratory muscle strength, duration of weaning and time to successful extubation [11].
Differently, in a recent systematic Cochrane review, Wheeler and colleagues compared volume targeted ventilation modes with traditional pressure limited ventilation modes, in newborns less than 28 days of corrected age. Interestingly, infants ventilated using volume targeted modes not only had reduced death and chronic lung disease and were less likely to develop pneumothorax, but they did need ventilator assistance for a shorter duration when compared with infants supported with pressure-limited ventilation modes [12].
Particularly when adopting the open lung strategy, high frequency ventilation (HFV) is another well accepted ventilatory modality to support term and preterm infants with respiratory failure [13]. However, despite its increasing use, data on weaning and extubation from HFV are still limited. Traditionally, some clinicians prefer to switch from HFV to conventional modes once the acute lung disease has improved, aiming to wean and extubate from this ventilation mode [14]. Recently, in a large retrospective study, van Venzel and colleagues evaluated the feasibility of weaning and direct extubation from open lung HFV [15]. In 214 preterm infants, with a total of 242 ventilatory courses, the authors observed that weaning the continuous distending pressure below 8 cm H2O with an FIO2 below 0.30 was feasible. Furthermore, extubation at these settings was successful in most cases, with a remarkable 90% success rate [15]. Yet, given the retrospective design of their study, they could not demonstrate if weaning and direct extubation from HFV was superior to switching and subsequent weaning and extubating from conventional mechanical ventilation, calling for future randomized controlled trials.