“Now (not) to injure the preterm lung – new ideas for improving transition in a preterm animal model”

Keywords: preterm birth, immature lung, treatment

Preterm birth is worldwide the most important cause of death in the neonatal period, but survival rates increased dramatically in the past 40 years. This was mainly achieved by new therapies supporting the immature lung of preterm babies. This thesis investigated ways to further optimize lung management in order to reduce lung injury by using a translational model of prematurely born lambs. Different pharmacological and technical interventions were investigated, such as surfactant nebulization or an innovative computer algorithm which helps to provide the optimal amount of oxygen directly after birth, and were shown to already be helpful in the delivery room.