Volume :

2

Issue :

4

Abstract :

Background Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is the primary cause of neonatal mortality¹ usually occurring in infants of less than 35 weeks of gestation.² In the surfactant deficient lung of preterm infants with respiratory distress, an unstable state occurs between alveoli, leading to diffuse atelectasis.³Various manual techniques like conventional chest physiotherapy (CCP) and lung squeezing technique (LST) are used in neonatal settings to mobilize secretions, enhance mucociliary clearance and reexpanding the atelectatic regions of the lung.9,10However the available evidences of comparing the effectiveness of both techniques are very few. Objective: To test the efficacy of Lung Squeezing Technique with that of Conventional Chest Physiotherapy for correcting atelectasis in mechanically ventilated pre term infants with RDS. Study design: Experimental study Method: With parental consent, 30 infants with gestational ages of less than 37 weeks who required mechanical ventilation and with presence of a segmental or lobar collapse confirmed on a chest X-ray, were randomly enrolled into this study. Fifteen infants in LST and CCP each.Chest radiograph was taken three days after intervention as outcome measure. Result: After three days of intervention program Lung squeezing technique showed statistically higher improvement compared with the conventional chest physiotherapy. Conclusion: LST is more effective in correcting atelectasis as compared to CCP technique in mechanically ventilated preterm infants with RDS. LST is less stressful and practically convenient technique than CCP technique.