The Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a pulmonary lesion of multifactorial cause in which the surfactant system is altered owing to inactivation and impairment of composition and metabolism. The use of exogenous pulmonary surfactant is a therapeutic option with the objective to maintain alveolar stability thus improving the pulmonary compliance (increasing the residual functional capacity), oxygenation and ventilatory mechanics. A study carried out on two pediatric patients with ARDS submitted to mechanic pulmonary ventilation, applying a single dose of exogenous pulmonary surfactant is described. The patients were evaluated using arterial and venous gasometry before and after the use of surfactant, observing increment in oxygenation, reduction of shunt fraction, improvement in ventilation immediately after exogenous pulmonary surfactant instillation and return to the previous situation after 240 minutes in case 1 and 120 minutes in case 2. More prospective clinical and randomized studies are needed to effectively evaluate this therapeutic modality.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome; Surfactant; Acute lung injury; Child; Critical illness therapy
