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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2009
Respiratory distress in newborn and young infants often develops as a result of acute lung injury, in which disruption of the normal barrier function of the pulmonary endothelium and epithelium causes protein-rich interstitial and alveolar edema. Several conditions may initiate acute lung injury, including aspiration of meconium or gastric contents, bacterial or viral infection, overzealous resuscitation, and birth associated with incomplete lung development that requires ventilatory support with positivepressure mechanical ventilation and high concentrations of inspired oxygen. The latter condition usually occurs after premature birth, but it also may occur as a consequence of impaired fetal lung growth secondary to diaphragmatic hernia or chest compression from lack of liquid in the amniotic cavity. Acute lung injury sometimes progresses to a chronic form of lung disease, which is characterized by edema, fibrosis, airway distortion, and nonuniform inflation of the lungs.