Comparison of the Efficacy of Three Natural Surfactants in Preterm Turkish Newborns with Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Aim:To determine the efficacy of three natural surfactant preparations in our community and the short- and long-term results of these on preterm infants.Materials and Methods:This was a retrospective research on 193 premature babies with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). The patients were divided into three groups, each of which received one of three surfactants: Group 1; beractant (100 mg/kg); group 2; poractant alfa (first dose of 200 mg/kg, recurrent doses of 100 mg/kg); group 3; calfactant (100 mg/kg). The groups were compared according to demographic characteristics, 1- and 5-minute Apgar scores, weight percentiles by gestational week, presence of pulmonary hemorrhage, surfactant dose repetition, air leak, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), stage of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), hemodynamically significant-patent ductus arteriosus (hs-PDA) and its medical or surgical treatment, retinopathy of premature (ROP) and its treatment, sepsis, ventilation time (both non-invasive and invasive), free oxygen need time, time to start full enteral feeding, discharge time, and mortality.Results:A total of 193 preterm infants with a mean gestational age of 28.9±3.1 weeks and mean birth weight of 1,190.4±504.3 grams were included in this study. The neonates were allocated into three different groups randomly, namely group-1 (n=77), group-2 (n=59), and group-3 (n=57). There were no differences in the clinical and demographic features of the groups. The incidence of pulmonary hemorrhage, surfactant dose repetition, air leak, ventilation time for both non-invasive and invasive, free oxygen need time, hs-PDA and surgical treatment of PDA, BPD, NEC (≥stage II), IVH (>stage III), ROP, time to start full enteral feeding, and discharge time were similar between the study groups. The sepsis and mortality rates were lower in group 3 compared to groups 1 and 2 (p=0.015, p=0.001).Conclusion:In this study, beractant, proctant alfa and calfactant had clinically similar efficacy in patients with RDS.