Daphne Stannard, the contributing editor for the Cochrane Review Summary, is the chief nurse researcher and director of the Institute for Nursing Excellence at UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, California. She is also the director of the UCSF JBI Centre.

For questions related to this article, contact Daphne Stannard at [email protected].

How effective is exogenous surfactant administration (ie, intratracheal administration of surfactant of any type, at any dose, and at any time after start of mechanical ventilation) compared with placebo, no intervention, or standard care in reducing mortality and duration of ventilation in infants and children with bronchiolitis requiring mechanical ventilation?

Pulmonary surfactant is an endogenous phospholipid compound that is synthesized and secreted by type II alveolar cells. Surfactant greatly reduces surface tension within the alveoli, helping to prevent alveolar collapse. Additionally, low surface tension at the alveolar level increases overall compliance of the lung and reduces the work...

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