The effect of postnatal steroids on lung ultrasound scores and extubation readiness in very low birth weight infants

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the utility of lung ultrasound scores (LUSs) to predict extubation readiness in VLBW infants and determined the effect of postnatal steroids on LUSs in babies who were chronically ventilated for > 30 days. STUDY DESIGN: We measured infants' LUS scores before planned extubations and determined the success of the subsequent extubation attempts. RESULTS: Overall, LUSs were lower in successfully extubated compared with unsuccessfully extubated infants in the entire population. Similar differences were seen in LUSs between successfully and unsuccessfully extubated chronically ventilated infants. In chronically ventilated infants, LUSs did not differ between infants who did and did not receive dexamethasone. However, dexamethasone-treated infants who extubated successfully had lower scores compared to those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: While LUS scores do not predict the need for dexamethasone treatment to promote successful extubation, they do predict subsequent extubation success, irrespective of both dexamethasone treatment and duration of ventilation.