Respiratory distress syndrome is a lung condition that primarily affects premature babies. Such babies are born before the end of a normal nine-month pregnancy. The condition is related to the underdevelopment of the lungs of these infants. The air sacs of the lungs collapse, causing rapid, difficult breathing and, in many cases, death by suffocation. The condition can also occur in adults following certain illnesses, traumas, or surgery. Respiratory distress syndrome ranks as a major cause of death among premature infants.
The condition in babies is also known as hyaline membrane disease. The term refers to the clear, glassy membranes found in the lungs of babies that die of the disease. Many physicians believe these membranes are produced as a reaction to lung damage caused by the strain of breathing air in an immature lung.
A victim of respiratory distress syndrome has difficulty breathing within minutes after birth. Underdeveloped lungs lack a substance called pulmonary surfactant. This substance prevents the air sacs from collapsing. The intensive care units in many hospitals include respirators and high-humidity incubators for treating respiratory distress syndrome victims. See Incubator (Hospital incubators) . Such treatment keeps many babies alive long enough for their lungs to become sufficiently developed to produce pulmonary surfactant. This development takes four to five days in most cases, but it may require several weeks. Most infants who recover have no permanent aftereffects. Scientists have developed artificial surfactants that can be given to infants soon after birth to prevent the condition.
In the early 1970’s, doctors discovered a way to determine whether an unborn baby’s lungs lack pulmonary surfactant. With this knowledge, a physician may try to delay a premature birth until the lungs have developed sufficiently. If a premature birth is not delayed, a physician can give the mother a synthetic hormone to accelerate the lung development of the fetus.
See also Premature birth .
