Another change to the definition of BPD?

Another change to the definition of BPD?

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.

Thinking of a New Stratification

Guaman MC et al published Invasive mechanical ventilation at 36 weeks post-menstrual age, adverse outcomes with a comparison of recent definitions of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. The authors subdivided the severe category the following way:

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.

A one size fits all approach to preterm ventilation may not have been right all this time.

A one size fits all approach to preterm ventilation may not have been right all this time.

I had the opportunity recently to give a talk on strategies to reduce BPD in our preemie population. For the talk, I used as a springboard the recommendations for reducing BPD as laid out by the Evidence Based Practice for Improving Quality (EPIQ) group. There are far too many recommendations for optimal care to go through but the point of this post is to highlight one strategy that I think is deserving of discussion.

That volume targeted ventilation is recommended is no surprise. Setting a desired volume and allowing pressures to fluctuate rather than fixing a pressure and allowing volumes to fluctuate reduces the risk of both atelectotrauma and volutrauma. A recent paper Early volume targeted ventilation in preterm infants born at 22-25 weeks of gestational age has added further arguments in those at the smallest gestational ages by reducing episodes of hypocapnia and increasing likelihood of extubation by 24 hours compared to those on pressure limited ventilation.

Are Bigger Volumes Better With Time?

It is the second highlighted piece above that has left me scratching my head. Going way back to my residency I was taught that the ideal tidal volume is somewhere between 3.5 – 4.5 mL/kg and we should try and keep PIPs less than 35 cm H2O as an absolute maximum. In reality we typically would switch to the high frequency jet ventilator if pressures were increasing above 25 cm H2O in an effort to avoid volutrauma by increasing volumes further or barotrauma from excessive pressure. The main thrust of the argument was that big volumes hurt the lung so one is better off being gentle and inflating the lung with PEEP and then using the more gentle pulse of the HFJV after that. To be sure in the early stages of the neonatal course excessive volumes and pressure can commit the patient to a significant risk of BPD and meticulous attention to respiratory care is needed. The question for today is whether after 2 or 3 weeks of age, babies with developing lung injury need more volume on conventional ventilation or whether continuing on the HFJV is the way to go. I will let you in on a secret right away though. There is a systematic review on the subject.

The problem is it only includes one study from 1991 which is before antenatal steroids and surfactant as standards of care so not much to take from this paper.

Evidence for Bigger Volumes

The first paper showing some evidence for this is by Kezler M et al from 2009 Evolution of tidal volume requirement during the first 3 weeks of life in infants <800 g ventilated with Volume Guarantee. The study examined 26 infants with blood gas and Vt sets (828 in total). The Vt measurements included in the analysis were only those that were used when the blood gas was within a normal range for age using permissive hypercapnia to guide treatment.

As shown in the table above the needed tidal volumes rise over time. The PIPs remain acceptable (below the set limits) but the volumes rise to close to 6 mL/kg by three weeks of age. If these results are generalizable to our own population this would mean that using our units current levels of 3.5 – 4.5 mL/kg would leave these older infants short. If so is it any wonder we see high pCO2 triggering a need for HFJV. The authors conclude here that the progressive dilation of the trachea and proximal bronchi over time from ventilation increase dead space and are responsible for the rise in needed Vt.

The next study Volume targeting levels and work of breathing in infants with evolving or established bronchopulmonary dysplasia was published in 2019 by Hunt et al. This study looked at 18 infants less than 32 weeks and randomly assigned them once older than one week of age and still ventilated to 20 minute periods on 4,5,6 and 7 mL/kg of Vt in random fashion. The median GA was 26 weeks and day of study 18 days. The outcome of interest was measurement of work of breathing using the Pressure-time product of the diaphragm (PTPdi). The findings are below.

One did not see a significant improvement in work of breathing until 7 mL/kg was reached and you can see a progressive rise in minute ventilation needed to maintain normocapnia over time. This study supports the previous one in suggesting that over time there is an increase in dead space and if we want to reduce air hunger which could be represented by work of breathing we need to consider higher volumes.

The Damage is Done

Its an imperfect science that we are looking at and there is no doubt there will be readers of this post that will cringe at the volumes being discussed. I think what this really comes down to is whether you think the damage is done by 2-3 weeks. We of course don’t officially classify babies as having BPD until 36 weeks but if we are being honest we often know or can predict which ones are destined to get it. Is it better for the babies to be put on high frequency ventilation for weeks or to be given some larger volumes on conventional ventilation? Hard to say based on the evidence as there really isn’t much to go by. One thing that does need to be considered is long term high frequency ventilation and the need for sedation. Many of our kids on weeks of such therapy need progressively more sedation and what effect does that have on the developing brain. On the other hand if excessive volumes even at 2-3 weeks lead to increased damage to the lungs are you risking a prolongation on the ventilator or increasing the need at some point for a tracheostomy?

In the end I don’t think at the moment anyone knows. If you move from one center to another though and see completely different approaches I hope that by reading this post you will at least understand where the differences in practice come from.

In the end we are all just trying to do what we believe is best for the baby.

Azithromycin for reduction of BPD. Smoke and mirrors or the real deal?

Azithromycin for reduction of BPD. Smoke and mirrors or the real deal?

This past week I was very appreciative of efforts by readers on my Facebook page and Twitter accounts who were able to secure a copy of an article that really grabbed my attention. I could only go by the abstract at the time but the post suggesting that the use of azithromycin could reduce BPD garnered a lot of attention. Now that I have had a chance to read the paper I believe there are some very big caveats to that claim. What was done in this study I find very interesting and the results yield even more questions and make for what I think will be a great discussion.

A little history

BPD is known to be a condition that develops at least in part due to the effects of inflammation on the preterm lung. The combination of infections, inflammation from mechanical ventilation and the susceptibility of the developing tissue to damage make for a cocktail with a foul taste in the end. Previous work by Ballard HO et al in 2011 Use of azithromycin for the prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants: a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial found that the risk of death or BPD at 36 weeks PMA was no different in an RCT using azithromycin 10 mg/kg/day for 7 days followed by 5 mg/kg/day for a maximum of 6 weeks. There was a suggestion in this study that in those with ureaplasma urealyticum there might be an affect. Researchers from Calgary had also published Azithromycin and Other Macrolides for
Prevention of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
which suggested prophylaxis helps with a NNT of 10 to reduce BPD. In spite of this it just hasn’t grabbed hold so maybe a new study would add some strength to the concept.

What was done this time around?

In the most recent paper by Nunes CR et al Use of Azithromycin for the Prevention of Lung Injury in Mechanically Ventilated Preterm Neonates: A Randomized Controlled Trial, the authors set out again to test the effect of azithromycin on modulating risk for BPD. They used the results of the Ballard trial to determine a number needed in their power calculation and came up with 38 per group and achieved 40 so they were powered to find a difference. They incuded all neonates who met inclusion criteria (invasive MV within 72 h of birth and, necessarily, invasive ventilatory support for, at least, 12 h until randomization) who were born under 1500g and randomized them to five days of azithromycin vs placebo. The strength of the study was that they also measured cytokine levels before starting azithromycin and then at 5 days after treatment. It is the outcome of interest that really puzzles me. They chose oxygen dependency at 28 days as their outcome of interest rather than 36 weeks PMA which is the more modern choice of end point for BPD. They also chose a much shorter course of 5 days compared to the study by Ballard which had previously shown no difference in outcome which I find odd as well. The baseline characteristics given that this was a small study also revealed an important difference between the two groups.

The babies in the treatment arm were on average 1.5 weeks more mature at birth which matters a great deal when you are alking about BPD. Additionally they were about 200g larger in size which was close to reaching statistical significance. Otherwise the infants were the same and the authors eventually control for these differences in the final analysis but to me at least this seems like a stark difference between groups favouring a higher expected risk of BPD from the outset regardless of treatment arm.

The main outcomes are where the authors lay claim to finding support for the intervention. At 28 days there was a statistically significant reduction in both oxygen dependency and oxygen dependency/death. As shown below though those differences did not extend to 36 weeks for either outcome.

Not surprisingly there were other differences in the groups reflective of the younger patients in the placebo arm such as higher rates of postnatal steroid use and days of TPN. One strength I suppose here is that since both groups were exposed to mechanical ventilation durations that were not different when their cytokine profiles were checked the effect of invasive positive pressure might be similar between groups. What is not known however is the mean airway pressures between groups or for that matter if any were put on high frequency ventilation so we have quantity but not quality. One could postulate that while durations were similar over 5 days, the smaller and younger patients may have been exposed to much higher pressures and/or volumes which could of course influence degree of inflammation. Looking at the cytokine profiles is interesting nonetheless.

The cytokines IL-2 and 8 were found to be significantly lower in the treatment arm and in general all others at least trended in the same direction after completing treatment with azithromycin. With less inflammation it seems probable then that the reduction in need for O2 at 28 weeks might be real and after the autors controlled for such things as gestational age and weight the finding bore out but at 36 weeks (the more meaningful outcome) the difference was gone.

What can we take from the study

Am I ready to start azithromycin in all my infants under 1500g? Not yet. This study raises too many questions for this to become standard of care. It really troubles me that the authors here used a shorter duration of azithromycin than the Ballard study and then used a less meaningful outcome of 28 days to demonstrate their difference. While they did find a difference I am concerned that there is a bit of “smoke and mirrors” here in that there is a difference in an outcome that in todays world isn’t that meaningful. I cringe at saying this but what is really needed is a larger multicentre study in which hopefully the gestational ages and weights at the outset are balanced. Even if we didn’t see a big difference in outcome at 36 weeks for BPD I would wonder if the cytokine profiles showed similar trends whether other conditions such as ROP and PDAs which can also be influenced by inflammation would demonstrate a difference between groups. We need a larger sample size and balancing of factors such as tidal volumes and ventilator pressures though to answer this in a more conclusive manner.

Intranasal delivery of stem cells to cure BPD?

Intranasal delivery of stem cells to cure BPD?

One of the most common conditions afflicting ex-preterm infants is chronic lung disease. Through advances in antenatal steroids, surfactant and modern ventilation we have done what we can to try and prevent this condition from occurring yet despite our best efforts CLD remains a common problem among those born at less than 1500g as is shown in the 2018 Canadian Neonatal Network data.

Primary prevention is of course the ideal strategy to reduce disease but when you try and your best and an infant still has chronic lung disease what is one to do? For now we bide our time focusing on nutrition and minimizing harm from ventilation. Something new is coming and I hope it comes soon.

Stem Cells to Heal BPD

My former colleague Bernard Thebaud has done much work already in this field. A recent review he was part of is a good starting point to bring you up to speed; Stem cell therapy for preventing neonatal diseases in the 21st century: Current understanding and challenges. As the field advances though and we continue to see additional animal trials such as the one I will discuss here, the interest in this field continues to grow. I was drawn to a recent paper on this topic as it is not dissimilar to another trial I wrote about in which stem cells were given via breastmilk intranasally to improve outcome after IVH; Can intranasal application of breastmilk cure severe IVH? In this new trial though instead of delivering stem cells in a cephalad direction they place the rat vertically to deliver the stem cells from wharton’s jelly to the trachea and damaged lung.

Stem cells from Wharton’s Jelly

Moreira A et al published the following paper in Intranasal delivery of human umbilical cord Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stromal cells restores lung alveolarization and vascularization in experimental bronchopulmonary dysplasia This study was done in four rats divided into 4 groups. Group A were rats born and raised in room air. Group B were exposed to 60% oxygen for four days to induce BPD. Group C was given experimental BPD as in Group B and then given the vehicle for stem cell delivery without stem cells. Group D then also had BPD was actually given stem cells. The timeline for the study is shown below.

The results are quite impressive. Looking at the histology of the four different groups reveals the curative property of these types of cells.

In essence the lung tissue architecture at the alveolar level looks almost identical to normal rat lung on the far left if the stem cells are provided through the intranasal route.

Moreover, when one looks at the impact on the blood vessels in the lung using Von Willebrand Factor staining similar healing is observed.

Lastly, not only were the numbers of blood vessels recovered but the thickness of the smooth muscle was reduced to that of normal rats without BPD after such treatment.

Why is this so important?

Past research has delivered stem cell treatment to the alveoli through an endotracheal tube. What this demonstrates is that rats held in a vertical position can have stem cells delivered into the lung where they are sorely needed. Could one take an infant on CPAP who is developing signs of CLD and do the same? The day may be coming when we prevent such infants from being reintubated just for CLD in the future.

The road is long though and the use of stem cells in humans has not begun yet. The effects seen in this rat model are dramatic but will they translate into the same thing in the human? I believe so and am waiting ever so patiently for such trials to start in humans. If you are looking for the next big leap in Neonatology I suspect this is what we are looking at. The question now is when.

The New BPD That Matters

The New BPD That Matters

As a Neonatologist I doubt there are many topics discussed over coffee more than BPD.  It is our metric by which we tend to judge our performance as a team and centre possibly more than any other.  This shouldn’t be that surprising.  The dawn of Neonatology was exemplified by the development of ventilators capable of allowing those with RDS to have a chance at survival.  image040As John F Kennedy discovered when his son Patrick was born at 34 weeks, without such technology available there just wasn’t much that one could do.  As premature survival became more and more common and the gestational age at which this was possible younger and younger survivors began to emerge.  These survivors had a condition with Northway described in 1967 as classical BPD.  This fibrocystic disease which would cripple infants gave way with modern ventilation to the “new bpd”.

The New BPD

The disease has changed to one where many factors such as oxygen and chorioamnionitis combine to cause arrest of alveolar development along with abnormal branching and thickening of the pulmonary vasculature to create insufficient air/blood interfaces +/- pulmonary hypertension.  This new form is prevalent in units across the world and generally appears as hazy lungs minus the cystic change for the most part seen previously. Defining when to diagnose BPD has been a challenge.  Is it oxygen at 28 days, 36 weeks PMA, x-ray compatible change or something else?  The 2000 NIH workshop on this topic created a new approach to defining BPD which underwent validation towards predicting downstream pulmonary morbidity in follow-up in 2005.  That was over a decade ago and the question is whether this remains relevant today.

Benchmarking

I don’t wish to make light of the need to track our rates of BPD but at times I have found myself asking “is this really important?”  There are a number of reasons for saying this.  A baby who comes off oxygen at 36 weeks and 1 day is classified as having BPD while the baby who comes off at 35 6/7 does not.  Are they really that different?  Is it BPD that is keeping our smallest babies in hospital these days?  For the most part no.  Even after they come off oxygen and other supports it is often the need to establish feeding or adequate weight prior to discharge that delays things these days.  Given that many of our smallest infants also have apnea long past 36 weeks PMA we have all seen babies who are free of oxygen at 38 weeks who continue to have events that keep them in hospital.  In short while we need to be careful to minimize lung injury and the consequences that may follow the same, does it matter if a baby comes off O2 at 36, 37 or 38 weeks if they aren’t being discharged due to apnea or feeding issues?  It does matter for benchmarking purposes as one unit will use this marker to compare themselves against another in terms of performance.  Is there something more though that we can hope to obtain?

When does BPD matter?

The real goal in preventing BPD or at least minimizing respiratory morbidity of any kind is to ensure that after discharge from the NICU we are sending out the healthiest babies we can into the community.  Does a baby at 36 weeks and one day free of O2 and other support have a high risk of coming back to the hospital after discharge or might it be that those that are even older when they free of such treatments may be worse off after discharge.  The longer it takes to come off support one would think, the more fragile you might be.  This was the goal of an important study just published entitled Revisiting the Definition of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia: Effect of Changing Panoply of Respiratory Support for Preterm Neonates.  This work is yet another contribution to the pool of knowledge from the Canadian Neonatal Network.  In short this was a retrospective cohort study of 1503 babies born at <29 weeks GA who were assessed at 18-21 months of age. The outcomes were serious respiratory morbidity defined as one of:

(1) 3 or more rehospitalizations after NICU discharge owing to respiratory problems (infectious or noninfectious);

(2) having a tracheostomy

(3) using respiratory monitoring or support devices at home such as an apnea monitor

or pulse oximeter

(4) being on home oxygen or continuous positive airway pressure at the time of assessment

While neurosensory impairment being one of:

(1) moderate to severe cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification System ≥3)

(2) severe developmental delay (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler

Development Third Edition [Bayley III] composite score <70 in either cognitive, language, or motor domains)

3) hearing aid or cochlear implant use

(4) bilateral severe visual impairment

What did they find?

The authors looked at 6 definitions of BPD and applied examined how predictive they were of these two outcomes.  The combination of oxygen and/or respiratory support at 36 weeks PMA had the greatest capacity to predict this composite outcome.  It was the secondary analysis though that peaked my interest.  Once the authors identified the best predictor of adverse outcome they sought to examine the same combination of respiratory support and/oxygen at gestational ages from 34 -44 weeks PMA.  The question here was whether the use of an arbitrary time point of 36 weeks is actually the best number to use when looking at these longer term outcomes.  Great for benchmarking but is it great for predicting outcome?

It turns out the point in time with the greatest likelihood of predicting occurrence of serious respiratory morbidity is 40 weeks and not 36 weeks.  Curiously, beyond 40 weeks it becomes less predictive.  With respect to neurosensory impairment there is no real difference at any gestational age from 34-44 weeks PMA.

From the perspective of what we tell parents these results have some significance.  If they are to be believed (and this is a very large sample) then the infant who remains on O2 at 37 weeks but is off by 38 or 39 weeks will likely fair better than the baby who remains on O2 or support at 40 weeks.  It also means that the risk of neurosensory impairment is largely set in place if the infant born at < 29 weeks remains on O2 or support beyond 33 weeks.  Should this surprise us?  Maybe not.  A baby who is on such support for over 5 weeks is sick and as a result the damage to the developing brain from O2 free radical damage and/or exposure to chorioamnionitis or sepsis is done.

It will be interesting to see how this study shapes the way we think about BPD.  From a neurosensory standpoint striving to remove the need for support by 34 weeks may be a goal worth striving for.  Failure to do so though may mean that we at least have some time to reduce the risk of serious respiratory morbidity after discharge.

Thank you to the CNN for putting out what I am sure will be a much discussed paper in the months to come.