High flow nasal cannula as a method for rapid weaning from nasal continuous positive airway pressure

Background: to compare two methods of weaning premature infants from nasal continuous positive airway pressure (ncpap). methods: between march and november 2012,88 preterm infants who were stable on ncpap of 5 cmh2o with fio2 <30% for a minimum of 6 h were randomly allocated to one of two groups. the high flow nasal cannula (hfnc) group received hfnc with flow of 2 l/min and fio2 = 0.3 and then stepwise reduction of fio2 and then flow. the non‑hfnc group was maintained on ncpap of 5 cmh2o and gradual reduction of oxygen until they were on fio2 = 0.21 for 6 h,and we had weaned them directly from ncpap (with pressure of 5 cmh2o) to room air. results: no significant differences were found between 2 study groups with regards to gestational age,birth weight,apgar score at 1 and 5 min after birth,patent ductus arteriosus and use of xanthines. the mean duration of oxygen therapy after randomization was significantly lower in hfnc group compared to non‑hfnc group (20.6 ± 16.8 h vs. 49.6 ± 25.3 h,p < 0.001). also,the mean length of hospital stay was significantly lower in hfnc group compared to non‑hfnc group (11.3 ± 7.8 days vs. 14.8 ± 8.6 days,p = 0.04). the rate of successful weaning was not statistically different between two groups. conclusions: weaning from ncpap to hfnc could decrease the duration of oxygen therapy and length of hospitalization in preterm infants. © 2015 badiee z.