TY - JOUR AU - Bianco, Federico AU - Salomone, Fabrizio AU - Milesi, Ilaria AU - Murgia, Xabier AU - Bonelli, Sauro AU - Pasini, Elena AU - DellacĂ , Raffaele AU - Ventura, Maria Luisa AU - Pillow, Jane PY - 2021 DA - 2021/02/26 TI - Aerosol drug delivery to spontaneously-breathing preterm neonates: lessons learned JO - Respiratory Research SP - 71 VL - 22 IS - 1 AB - Delivery of medications to preterm neonates receiving non-invasive ventilation (NIV) represents one of the most challenging scenarios for aerosol medicine. This challenge is highlighted by the undersized anatomy and the complex (patho)physiological characteristics of the lungs in such infants. Key physiological restraints include low lung volumes, low compliance, and irregular respiratory rates, which significantly reduce lung deposition. Such factors are inherent to premature birth and thus can be regarded to as the intrinsic factors that affect lung deposition. However, there are a number of extrinsic factors that also impact lung deposition: such factors include the choice of aerosol generator and its configuration within the ventilation circuit, the drug formulation, the aerosol particle size distribution, the choice of NIV type, and the patient interface between the delivery system and the patient. Together, these extrinsic factors provide an opportunity to optimize the lung deposition of therapeutic aerosols and, ultimately, the efficacy of the therapy. SN - 1465-993X UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12931-020-01585-9 DO - 10.1186/s12931-020-01585-9 ID - Bianco2021 ER -