title: Abnormalities of diaphragmatic muscle in neonates with ventilated lungs.
abstract: Several infants and neonates who had received long-term ventilatory assistance had subnormal diaphragmatic muscle mass on gross necropsy examination. We conducted a retrospective study of our hospital infant necropsy files to determine whether prolonged ventilatory support was associated with diminution in myofiber cross-sectional area selectively affecting the diaphragm. We found that long-term ventilatory assistance may predispose diaphragmatic myofibers to disuse atrophy or to failure or normal growth. This phenomenon may contribute to difficulties in weaning infants from ventilatory support.
mesh_terms: D003964:Diaphragm / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008134:Long-Term Care; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012127:Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Newborn / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies