ABSTRACT:We have developed two devices: a high-amplitude bubble continuous positive airway pressure (HAB-CPAP) and an inexpensive bubble intermittent mandatory ventilator (B-IMV) to test the hypotheses that simple, inexpensive devices can provide gas exchange similar to that of bubble CPAP (B-CPAP) and conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV). Twelve paralyzed juvenile rabbits were intubated, stabilized on CMV, and then switched to CPAP. On identical mean airway pressures (MAPs), animals were unable to maintain pulse oximeter oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ) Ͼ80% on conventional B-CPAP, but all animals oxygenated well (97.3 Ϯ 2.1%) on HAB-CPAP. In fact, arterial partial pressures of O 2 (PaO 2 ) were higher during HAB-CPAP than during CMV (p ϭ 0.01). After repeated lung lavages, arterial partial pressures of CO 2 (PaCO 2 ) were lower with B-IMV than with CMV (p Ͻ 0.0001), despite identical ventilator settings. In lavaged animals, when HAB-CPAP was compared with CMV at the same MAP and 100% O 2 , no differences were observed in PaO 2 , but PaCO 2 levels were higher with HAB-CPAP (70 Ϯ 7 versus 50 Ϯ 5 mm Hg; p Ͻ 0.05). Arterial blood pressures were not impaired by HAB-CPAP or B-IMV. The results confirm that simple inexpensive devices can provide respiratory support in the face of severe lung disease and could extend the use of respiratory support for preterm infants into severely resourcelimited settings. (Pediatr Res 68: 526-530, 2010) I nfant mortality caused by respiratory distress syndrome in the United States decreased from ϳ268 in 100,000 live births in 1971 to 98 in 100,000 live births in 1985 (1) and 17 in 100,000 live births in 2007 (2). The decrease in mortality from 1971 to 1985 was, in large part, due to the development and widespread availability of mechanical ventilators and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices designed to assist lung recruitment and gas exchange in newborn infants in respiratory distress. However, Ͼ4 million infants die throughout the world each year, with 1 million dying principally from respiratory insufficiency (3,4), largely because of the lack in resource-limited countries of the respiratory support devices and technologies that are commonly used in more affluent societies.Modern ventilators are expensive to purchase, which limits availability in resource-limited countries. Even if the devices are donated, the need for highly trained personnel to operate, maintain, and repair the ventilators effectively prevent significant use of modern ventilators in most facilities. Practical methods for respiratory support of prematurely born infants could save hundreds of thousands of newborn lives each year.In an effort to bridge the gap between the need for less expensive, simpler, more practical approaches to respiratory support and the need for greater range of simple support methods, we have developed two novel devices that can be used separately or together to provide a broad range of respiratory support for infants.One device, termed high-amplitude bubble continuous positive...