Case 1 You are taking care of a 4-day-old male infant, born at 32 weeks’ gestation and weighing 1750 g. He was recently transitioned from mechanical ventilation to nasal cannula. He was doing well until this morning, when you noticed…
KEY POINTS 1. There are three types of apnea: central, mixed, and obstructive. Mixed apnea is most common in longer episodes of apnea. 2. Apnea of prematurity is primarily due to the immaturity of respiratory and central nervous systems. 3.…
Key points Understanding the physiology of neonatal respiratory control has served as an effective guide to common therapeutic approaches. Both the acute and longer-term consequences of intermittent hypoxemia and apnea of prematurity are subjects of intense interest. Intermittent hypoxemia may…
When one considers the complexity of the pulmonary and hemodynamic changes occurring after delivery, it is surprising that the majority of infants make the transition from intrauterine to extrauterine life so smoothly and uneventfully. Nonetheless, the staff working in the…
Epidemiology and Definition of Apnea Definition Apnea is an almost universal manifestation of immature respiratory control in premature infants. Such infants may experience respiratory pauses of varying duration, with decreasing gestational age increasing vulnerability to such events. Short respiratory pauses…
Acknowledgment This chapter was prepared through the financial support of grant HL 56470 (R.J. Martin and Y.S. Prakash), HL138402 (P.M. MacFarlane), and HL 133459 (T.M. Raffay) from the National Institutes of Health. Introduction Significant progress has been made in elucidating…
Key Points Apnea of prematurity is universal in preterm infants and a manifestation of greater inhibitory (rather than excitatory) influences on the central respiratory network. In premature infants, excitation of peripheral arterial chemoreceptors by hypoxia predisposes to periodic breathing and…