Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital Using Bubbles to Help Babi...(fants the respiratory support they need ...),Health

The decision to implement the Bubble CPAP system came after a year-long review of clinical research demonstrating the system improves outcomes more effectively than others.

"This implementation was completely evidence-based," Dr. Grubbs said. "We reviewed the medical research literature thoroughly and modeled our process after NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, which reports the lowest rate of chronic lung disease in the world--six percent compared to the national average of 24 to 30 percent."

Chronic lung disease remains one of the most common and debilitating outcomes for very low birth weight premature infants, and is the result of permanent alteration of lung development associated with the use of mechanical ventilators.

"Although infant ventilators have become increasingly sophisticated over the past several years, and are certainly necessary in many instances to save babies' lives, they remain one of the major factors associated with developing chronic lung disease."

Chronic lung disease leads to increased susceptibility and severity of respiratory infections and asthma, and has been associated with neurologic and developmental setbacks, according to Dr. Grubbs. In addition, the invasive process of placing a breathing tube into the trachea and breathing with the aid of a ventilator carries risks such as vocal cord or airway injury, ventilator-associated pneumonia and infection.