The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is defined by noncardiogenic pulmonary edema and respiratory failure in the seriously ill patient. The diagnosis is clinical, established by the development of new bilateral pulmonary infiltrates and severe hypoxemia without congestive heart failure (1). The risk for ARDS also depends on both host and etiologic factors. The most common causes are s...

Pulmonary surfactant is a substance composed of a lipoprotein complex that is essential to pulmonary function. Pulmonary surfactant proteins play an important role in the structure, function, and metabolism of surfactant; 4 specific surfactant proteins have been identified: surfactant proteins-A, surfactant proteins-B, surfactant proteins-C, and surfactant proteins-D. Clinical, epidemiological,...

chylothorax is an unusual cause of pleural effusion after the neonatal period in children without a previous history of cardiothoracic surgery. determination of the causes of this condition can be often challenging. herein, we present a case of a 6-month-old male infant, presenting with sudden severe breathlessness, which was later diagnosed as spontaneous left-sided chylothorax.

The phosphatidylcholine (PC) content of the initial endotracheal tube aspirate was measured in 105 infants intubated for resuscitation or for ventilation for respiratory distress syndrome, using high performance liquid chromatography and postcolumn fluorescence derivitization with diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene. Sixty eight had measurable PC. Of the infants who developed respiratory distress syndrom...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome is characterized by an acute pulmonary inflammatory process induced by the presence of a direct (pulmonary) insult that affects lung parenchyma, or an indirect (extrapulmonary) insult that results from an acute systemic inflammatory response. It is believed that an efficient therapy for the acute respiratory distress syndrome should attenuate inflammatory res...

Polygraphic recordings were made on 10 preterm infants recovering from respiratory distress syndrome and 12 healthy preterm control infants at 40, 52, and 64 weeks' conceptual age to study the influence of respiratory distress syndrome on the development of the sleep apnoea profile. Two significant differences were found: infants with respiratory distress syndrome not only had a lower incidence...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome is a disease of acute onset characterized by hypoxemia and infiltrates on chest radiographs that affects both adults and children of all ages. It is an important cause of respiratory failure in pediatric intensive care units and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless, until recently, the definitions and diagnostic criteria for ac...

Amniotic fluid phospholipids from 346 patients' specimens were quantified and evaluated against the clinical outcome (i.e., respiratory distress syndrome or normal respiratory function). Concentrations of lecithin, sphingomyelin, phosphatidylglycerol, and the lecithin/sphingomyelin reflectance ratio were evaluated by ordered frequency distribution and stepwise discriminant function analysis. Th...

BACKGROUND Surfactant protein abnormalities are rare causes of respiratory distress syndrome. CASE CHARACTERISTICS A late preterm (36 wks) who presented with respiratory distress syndrome. OBSERVATION He was found to be a homozygous for a G to T transversion at the first base in intron 24, of ABCA3 gene which is necessary for lamellar body formation and surfactant production. OUTCOME He d...