BACKGROUND: Despite international guidelines for lung protective ventilation in neonatal or pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (nARDS/ pARDS), prospective data on bedside monitoring tools for regional ventilation distribution and lung mechanics are still rare. As a bedside and radiation-free procedure, electrical impedance tomography (EIT) offers a practical and safe approach for analyzing regional ventilation distributions. Recent trials in adults have shown the efficacy of an individualized EIT guided strategy for the improvement of ventilator induced lung injury (VILI). METHODS: We performed a single-center prospective feasibility study from November/2021 to December/2023 in the department of neonatal and pediatric intensive care medicine at the University Children´s Hospital in Bonn. All patients with diagnosis of nARDS (or history of perinatal lung disease-PLD)/ pARDS were screened for study inclusion. In all patients a decremental PEEP (positive end-expiratory pressure) trial was performed with a continuous EIT monitoring for an individual analysis of the EIT guided pixel compliance (C RESULTS: Overall, 40 EIT measurements were performed in 26 neonatal and pediatric patients (nARDS/PLD, n = 6
and pARDS, n = 20) within a predefined decremental PEEP trial. Thirteen patients were classified as having severe nARDS (PLD)/ pARDS with an Oxygen Saturation Index (OSI) >
12 or Oxygenation Index (OI) >
16. In-hospital mortality rate was 27% in the overall cohort. The median EIT-PEEP (11mbar) was calculated as lowest, as compared to the clinically set PEEP (11.5mbar, p <
0.001), and the ARDSnetwork PEEP table recommendation (ARDSnet-PEEP, 14mbar, p = 0.018). In patients with nARDS/PLD, the EIT-PEEP was calculated 3mbar below the clinically set PEEP (p = 0.058) and 11 mbar below the ARDSnet-PEEP (p = 0.01). In the linear regression analysis, EIT-PEEP and the dynamic compliance (C CONCLUSION: EIT is feasible and can be performed safely in patients with diagnosis of nARDS/PLD and pARDS, even during ongoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. An individualized PEEP finding strategy according to the EIT compliance might optimize regional ventilation distribution in these patients and can potentially decrease VILI. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered at the German Clinical Trials Register (GCT
trial number: DRKS 00034905, Registration Date 15.08.2024). The registration was performed retrospectively after inclusion of the last patient.