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Dear Friend,
The birth of baby is always
a great emotion and fills the hearts of parents and friends
with joy, however when a baby arrives early matters can be
very different. In the last 2-3 months of pregnancy the mother
begins to prepare physically and psychologically for the birth,
so when prematurity interrupts the natural order of a pregnancy
with little or no warning, parents are often in shock and
confused. Furthermore in some cases parents have to learn
to cope with intensive care (NICU-
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), and this is not always an easy
task.
In this website parents
will find useful information that we hope will help them to
deal with this sometimes traumatic experience. As we believe
that it might be easier if they can better understand what
is happening to the very small baby that has just entered
their life In particular parents will find some simple details
regarding Respiratory
Distress Syndrome, Surfactant
Replacement Therapy, Curosurf
and other complications regarding prematurity.
Premature babies in the
21st centuries are much more fortunate than those babies born
even just a generation earlier and if we go back to the 1950s
virtually no survivors were reported under 1000g birth weight.
Today a baby weighing approximately 1000g at birth has an
over 90% chance of complete recovery and
even the tiniest babies (500-700g birth weight) have a relatively
good chance of survival, even though they may develop more
complications.
One of the most common respiratory
diseases of the premature babies, for which they often require
oxygen administration and mechanical ventilation, is Respiratory
Distress Syndrome, also known as RDS. The main
cause of RDS is lung immaturity, as neonatal
lungs are not simply small versions of adult lungs, they are
developing lungs and in fact lung
development finishes when the child is 8 years
old!
The introduction of Surfactant
Replacement Therapy has dramatically reduced
the incidence and severity of RDS… but what
is surfactant? Why do some premature babies require exogenous
surfactant? Here below you will find a very simple
description, however should you wish to know more about RDS
and the other complications of prematurity please read our
dedicated pages and don’t forget to talk to your physician.
The Simple
Surfactant Story:
While the baby is in the
uterus the baby
does not breath through his lungs, as gaseous
exchange takes place at the placenta and oxygenated blood
returns to the heart through the umbilical vein. In the meantime
the baby’s lungs develop so that at birth the baby will
be able to take his first
breath, air will substitute the lung fluids and
the oxygen level will rise in the alveoli
(tiny terminal sacs in the lungs), but when a baby is born
preterm, the lungs may not yet have started to produce sufficient
surfactant (surfactant production occurs during 24-28 weeks),
making breathing difficult.
Surfactant
is a liquid produced by the lungs to help keep the alveoli
open during expiration ie. when the baby breaths out, in fact
if the alveoli were to collapse every time the baby expires
it would take a great effort for the baby to re-inflate them
with air each time he breaths in… just imagine how hard
it is to inflate a balloon when it is completely deflated!
Therefore an adequate level
of surfactant in the baby’s lungs will:
- reduce the effort needed to expand
the lungs
- reduce tendency for alveoli to
collapse
An inadequate level of surfactant
in some cases leads to RDS
and therefore exogenous surfactant is administered to the
baby to prevent or decrease the severity of RDS.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you are concerned about the present and future health of
a premature baby we first of all invite you to talk to the
healthcare professionals that are looking after the baby,
the neonatologists, the nurses and other staff will be able
to give you support and specific information regarding the
conditions of the baby and possible future developments.
Suggested
reading
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Verify here:
