de Waal CG, et al. - The target of the researchers was to describe the effect of minimally invasive surfactant therapy (MIST) on neural breathing effort evaluated with transcutaneous electromyography of the diaphragm (dEMG) in preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). The enrollment consisted of preterm infants with a gestational age < 37 weeks treated with MIST for RDS. A decrease was reported in the Tonic_dEMG activity in 12 (71%) infants, with a median reduction of 6.3%. Findings disclosed that alongside improved oxygenation, MIST led to a decrease in neural breathing effort measured by dEMG activity in the majority of preterm infants with RDS.